DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970325
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, began today's noon briefing by calling correspondents' attention to the fact that the large, white United Nations logo that usually hung behind him had been lent to the Office of Conference Services for use at a ceremony to be held at 12:30 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. During the ceremony, he said, the Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic, would be presented the 1996 International Democracy Award by the Center for Democracy.
Turning to other matters, he informed media representatives that the United Nations had yesterday provided Iraq with its fifth weekly report on the implementation of the "oil-for-food" formula of Security Council resolution 986 (1995). The resolution authorizes States to permit the import of up to $1 billion of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products every 90 days to meet Iraqi humanitarian needs. The Chairman of the Security Council Committee monitoring sanctions against Iraq, Antonio Victor Martins Monteiro (Portugal), had said yesterday that the Committee had approved 40 oil sale contracts, with a total volume of 112 million barrels. As of this morning, the number of applications to sell humanitarian supplies received by the Secretariat had climbed to 368. Of the 82 applications that had been submitted to the Committee, 61 had been approved, with one pending and 20 on hold.
Regarding the sum of money that had accrued from the process, Mr. Brandt said a total of $787 million had been paid into an escrow account. Of that, $519 million had been allotted to humanitarian supplies, $236 million to the United Nations Compensation Fund and the rest to other programmes.
Continuing, Mr. Brandt said that trucks were rolling through the northern entry point of Zako, carrying white beans, chickpeas and vegetable oil. The entry point of Trebil, near the Jordanian border, had become active yesterday, with the passage of trucks loaded with iodized salt from Jordan. The Organization was expecting the arrival of the first cargo ship, with 13,000 tons of Thai rice, at Umm Qasr today. At the three entry points, United Nations customs inspection agents from Lloyd's Register were monitoring the arrivals. At any given time, Lloyd's had at least 32 inspection agents in Iraq. The United Nations had also deployed distribution observers in the field in anticipation of substantial arrivals of supplies.
Moving on to the situation in the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Associate Spokesman told reporters that the conditions of tens of thousands of refugees in the Ubundu region of Zaire remained very alarming. Thousands of women and children had received no help for several weeks for simply being out of reach. Yesterday, a team from the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) was prevented by forces of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire from driving south to Kisangani to confirm reports of a refugee column of some 8,000 people arriving from Ubundu. The column, thought to be about 7 kilometres from Kisangani, lacked access to assistance. A UNHCR team was scheduled to attempt to drive again today to meet the column and possibly direct them to a temporary transit centre. An inter-agency mission had flown to Ubundu today on the east side of the river where an estimated 3,000 refugees remained. The mission also overflew the area to the west to look for refugees. The Spokesman's office would inform correspondents of the results of that mission. Briefing notes from the UNHCR were also available at the office, he added.
Regarding Rwanda, Mr. Brandt said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UNHCR had signed an agreement last week in Kigali to set the stage for a hand-over of activities in that country from the UNHCR to the UNDP. The process was part of a broader agreement to ensure an early phase-out from humanitarian assistance to sustainable local development. A joint Rehabilitation Programming Unit would help develop "quick-impact projects" to ensure the livelihood of returnees and bridge the gap from reintegration to longer-term development.
On Secretary-General Kofi Annan's trip to Africa, the Associate Spokesman said he had left Luanda for Togo at about 5:15 p.m. local time after a three-day visit to Angola. At his final press conference at the airport, Mr. Annan had answered questions from the media, one of which was whether he had been satisfied with his visit to Luanda. In response, the Secretary- General had said he had been. He had then mentioned that he had spoken this morning to a plenary session of Angola's National Assembly, with most of the deputies of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) present. The Secretary-General had said that he was "very happy to see them sitting side-by-side with their Angolan brothers and sisters".
Incidentally, Mr. Brandt continued, that was the first time there had been so many UNITA deputies present in the Assembly. Of a total of 70, 58 had been in attendance, with seven more expected in Luanda shortly. The Secretary-General had then expressed hope that the remaining deputies and the members of the Government, designated to join the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation would also arrive in the capital as soon as possible. Once that was done, the Government of National Reconciliation could be formed. Meanwhile, Mr. Annan had stated, in response to a question, that he recognized that the Security Council would probably have to grant a two-week technical extension to the mandate of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III), which expires on 31 March, to enable the current Government to deal with the necessary bureaucratic procedures to ensure that the deputies could be sworn in and that all necessary legal steps were taken before the Government of National Reconciliation was actually formed.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 25 March 1997
Continuing, the Associate Spokesman said that the Secretary-General had stated in response to a question on the Great Lakes region situation, that the solution to the problem there lay in the United Nations plan that would be discussed by him and his team on reaching Togo later today.
After the press conference, Mr. Brandt went on to say, the Secretary- General inspected a parade of United Nations troops given in his honour at UNAVEM III headquarters in Luanda. While there, he had met with UNAVEM III staff and expressed pride in the mission's work in Angola. Mr. Annan had emphasized the quality of leadership given by his Special Representative, Alioune Blondin Beye, allowing the staff to "keep the mission going through thick and through thin". He also praised the staff for struggling on through difficult times, adding that he knew what it was like to be a peace-keeper. The spirit of the staff would see the mission through to the end, Mr. Annan had stated.
Separately, the Associate Spokesman continued, the Secretary-General had earlier launched the United Nations Inter-Agency Appeal for Angola this morning, calling on the international community to contribute generously to support efforts to consolidate peace in that country. The Appeal, which requires $228.4 million, was designed to meet Angola's extensive humanitarian needs and to provide a framework for a transition to national rehabilitation and reconstruction. Copies of a press release and other material on the Appeal, as well as the text of Mr. Annan's speech to Angola's National Assembly were available at the Spokesman's office, the latter since last night when it was released.
Before opening the briefing to questions, he reminded correspondents of a ceremony that would be held at 12:30 p.m. today, in the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club to honour United Nations staff members who had been detained, killed or who were missing. The head of the United Nations Staff Union and the Assistant Secretary-General for Conference and Support Services and United Nations Security Coordinator, Benon Sevan, would attend the occasion.
In a subsequent question-and-answer session, the Associate Spokesman was asked whether he had any comment on the agreement between the Russian Federation and Iraq on developing their oil fields. He said he had none.
Asked about the implications of the absence of the UNITA leader, Jonas Savimbi, from Luanda during the swearing-in ceremony of the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation, Mr. Brandt said the international community should expect all 70 UNITA deputies to Angola's National Assembly to arrive and enable the formation of the Government of National Reconciliation. "And, hopefully, we can expect to have Mr. Savimbi in Luanda in the near future", he added. "The overall expectation and the overall hope, as I said yesterday and as the Secretary-General said today, is that, indeed, that government will be
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 25 March 1997
formed and that all the necessary obstacles -- being bureaucratic or legal -- are off, so that the government will be formed."
In response to a question as to whether the plan on Zaire that the Secretary-General intended to discuss in Togo today was different from others, he said it was the same one and would be the centre-piece of the discussion that would take place at the special summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Togo tomorrow.
Replying to a question about an accidental shooting last night in the United Nations garage, he said that a staff member of the Permanent Mission of Italy had accidentally shot himself in the foot. He was helped by United Nations personnel and taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
Asked whether the Organization had intentions to make Member States abide by their legal, United Nations Charter obligations or "United Nations law" in order to facilitate the implementation of humanitarian plans, Mr. Brandt said: "We all expect that the members of the United Nations will abide by the law and that they will follow the Charter of the United Nations".
Pressed to say whether the Organization should be empowered to enforce international law, Mr. Brandt said: "No, I said all Member States should go by the Charter of the United Nations, and it is important for the existence and for the good of this Organization that all of them follow that".
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Note: In the Press Conference of 21 March 1997 on the outcome of the forty- first session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the first sentence of the second paragraph on page 4 should have read:
A correspondent, pointing out that each year the Commission adopted a resolution on women in the occupied territories, asked why that was the only country-specific resolution. Ms. King noted a resolution that had been adopted last year on women in the media, which had specifically condemned violence against women journalists in Algeria.