PRESS CONFERENCE BY EUROPEAN UNION
Press Briefing
PRESS CONFERENCE BY EUROPEAN UNION
19970325
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
European Union Commissioner, Emma Bonino, responsible for the management of the European Union's Humanitarian Office, Fisheries and Consumer Policy, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning, that the European Union had agreed to the necessity of protecting the delivery of its humanitarian aid in Albania.
She said the Union had also decided to send an advance team to Albania without delay in order to prepare for a major advisory mission, which would assess institutional, political, economic, security, as well as the humanitarian needs of Albania. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the European Union had made the decision yesterday in Brussels and the text of that decision would be made available later today, she added.
According to the report of the recent assessment mission made by the European Union's Humanitarian Office, most of the food and medicine stocks in Albania had been looted, she continued. In order to deliver the needed supplies, protection was essential for humanitarian workers and the commodities, themselves. Without that protection, the supplies would almost certainly be looted. The form the protection would take was likely to be decided today in a meeting in Rome between the Prime Minister of Albania and the European Union's Minister of Foreign Affairs. She was optimistic that the situation in Albania would be brought under control and the spread of instability to neighbouring countries would be prevented.
Mrs. Bonino added that she was travelling to Washington, D.C. to meet with "American friends" about the situation in Zaire. No access into Zaire had yet been granted, which prevented the delivery of humanitarian relief, she said. More than 100,000 refugees were "out of reach".
A correspondent asked if the United Nations might be sending a mission or peace-keeping force to either Albania or Zaire. Mrs. Bonino responded that there was a United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs mission that was going to Albania tomorrow. However, governments were working mostly within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Could she elaborate on any assistance planned for the electoral process in Albania by the advisory mission? a correspondent asked. Mrs. Bonino said the President of Albania had promised to hold elections within two months and there was a need to monitor the election process. She hoped the mission would be in a position to monitor that process. The correspondent then asked if there was a short-term goal and a long-term goal for the mission. Mrs. Bonino
responded that the goal of the advisory mission was to report back with a long-term, comprehensive framework of action that included political, economic and institutional components, as well as emergency aid.
How could the United Nations better organize itself to offer effective humanitarian aid? a correspondent asked. Mrs. Bonino said the biggest problem that the humanitarian aid community faced today was political; it was not a problem of efficiency. Countries of the United Nations or signatories of its conventions were simply not abiding by the agreements. The basic principle of humanitarian work had been abandoned in the last few months, as humanitarian aid workers had been killed or kidnapped. Impunity had become the norm and there was a chance that a climate would be created where no humanitarian work could be performed at all.
Asked about possible military assistance for delivering humanitarian aid to Zaire, Mrs. Bonina said, "When a train goes by and you don't take it, then you simply cannot decide to take it six months later". The multinational force had decided in November not to intervene in Zaire, under the pretext that there were no refugees in Rwanda. That had simply not been true, borne out by the hundreds of thousands of refugees that had later been "discovered". Given the present military situation of the rebels in Zaire, she did not anticipate any military assistance for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Had she had an opportunity to address the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva? a correspondent asked. Mrs. Bonino said her official concern was that of emergency humanitarian aid. Human rights were handled by regional commissioners. Her personal interest in the subject, however, was another matter.
A correspondent asked if having soldiers accompany the humanitarian aid in Albania might drag the European Union deeper into the conflict. Mrs. Bonino replied that when you decided to intervene, there was always a risk of that happening, but if you did nothing, you might be later presented with an even bigger problem.
Asked about reconstituting the police force in Albania, Mrs. Bonino said developing a plan for rebuilding the police was one of the goals of the advisory mission. Further asked if air drops were a good method for supplying aid, she said air drops were always the last resort, especially in a crowded situation, such as existed in Albania. The country was also mountainous, which made air drops difficult. In the experience of her organization, air drops had also been less than effective.
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