DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970326
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, informed correspondents at the start of today's briefing that the Security Council had just adjourned consultations, having this morning discussed the Secretary-General's progress report on the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL). There was a draft resolution, he said, that had more or less been agreed on, but no information was available so far as to whether the Council would act on it or not. (It was later announced that the Council would act on that resolution at noon, tomorrow, Thursday, 27 March.)
The second item before the Council had been Guatemala, Mr. Brandt said. The Council heard a briefing by the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Guatemala, Jean Arnault. He was not available to meet with the media, the Associate Spokesman stated, as he was leaving about the time of the briefing for Guatemala, but had promised to do so next time he was around. On Guatemala itself, Mr. Brandt said that the process of registration of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) ex-combatants at the assembly points was moving along. As of yesterday, 2,426 of them were registered, out of an expected 2,959. The original list of ex-combatants was more than 3,000, but the URNG had provided the revised list, which contained more accurate information on them. He pointed out, however, that the current figure excluded the members of the political command and support structure of the URNG who would be demobilized later under a separate arrangement.
Mr. Brandt drew the attention of correspondents to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) update, contained in a press release, appealing today for safe passage for tens of thousands of refugees seeking to return to Rwanda after a five-month odyssey in the war-torn rain forests of eastern Zaire. The refugees were scattered along a 95-kilometre route from the outskirts of Ubundu to the Kisangani logistics hub of humanitarian operations in eastern Zaire. About 10,000 to 15,000 of them were encamped seven kilometres south of Kisangani in Lula. Soldiers of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation (ADL) of Congo/Zaire had refused them entry into the city; it wanted the refugees to go back to Ubundu. The refugees had told UNHCR that the former soldiers and extremists had abandoned them and that the armed men were proceeding further west. They had also said that the extremists used them as human shields as they fled from advancing ADL forces.
Still on the Great Lakes region, the Associate Spokesman continued, humanitarian agencies headed out from Kisangani today to assess needs in areas accessible from the city. He confirmed what he had told correspondents yesterday: that a United Nations flight from Goma via Kisangani would land at Ubundu. That had indeed taken place today on the east of the river, but had
found that only a few refugees remained there. Zaire aid workers and local officials informed an inter-agency team lead by UNHCR that most Rwandan refugees in the area had crossed the river. No military presence was reported. The Associate Spokesman added that 120 metric tons of foodstuff had left Kisangani today on a train on its way to Ubundu.
Turning to the situation in Albania, he said that an inter-agency mission had arrived today in Tirana, where it was joined by a World Food Programme (WFP) representative. The mission was led by the Department of Humanitarian Affairs and comprised representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNHCR, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It would travel through Albania, subject to security conditions, to conduct an assessment of humanitarian needs and to formulate recommendations for assistance in the areas of food and nutrition, health, water and sanitation, as well as basic social services. The mission, which would spend five days in Albania, would liaise with the Government.
On Iraq, Mr. Brandt announced that one more oil contract was approved yesterday, bringing the total oil contracts approved so far to 41. The amount of oil involved was 10,000 barrels per day for 90 days. The first cargo ship carrying the 13,000 tons of Thai rice, mentioned a few days ago, had entered the port of Umm Qasr late yesterday and docked at about 11:45 a.m. this morning, Baghdad local time. The United Nations had deployed nine teams of observers -- 18 altogether -- in the Basra and Umm Qasr area to observe the unloading and transportation of the commodities to the warehouses.
Meanwhile, he continued, trucks carrying other humanitarian supplies continued to roll in through Zakho. On the total so far, he said that more than 15,000 tons of supplies had arrived; more than 250,000 tons of wheat would arrive in the first half of April. The distribution of humanitarian supplies was expected to take place when enough quantities had arrived, in order to avoid unrest among the population. Mr. Brandt said that a 986 update, received from the United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, was available in the office of the Spokesman. "So far, so good", he added.
Continuing, Mr. Brandt recalled that yesterday at 12:30 p.m., as he had previously announced, there had been a meeting at the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) Club to commemorate detained staff members as well as the twelfth anniversary of the disappearance of Alec Collett. He noted that yesterday's event was a "very sad occasion", not only because of what was being commemorated, but because the presence of press, staff and delegations was "very, very poor". He hoped that in the future, there would be better attendance. Those few in attendance were quite appalled at the low level of participation during the ceremony, which was called "to express our solidarity with staff members and colleagues who had been detained, killed or abducted". He told correspondents that the matter also applied to them; Ian
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Williams, their vice-president, had cited the case of media representatives who had also suffered those problems performing their work.
On the observance itself, he said that the Assistant Secretary-General for Conference and Support Services and United Nations Security Coordinator Benon Sevan, who attended the meeting, made a presentation concerning security of United Nations staff, which he described as a "very interesting" set of bullet points regarding the history of the United Nations from the perspective of United Nations security. He urged correspondents to get copies of it, as the office of the Spokesman had decided to put it out for them. He pointed out that it contained information as numbers of staff that had disappeared; new measures that had been taken by the Organization; what was proposed for the future; and how staff could keep up with all the security threats in place for those away in missions.
Mr. Brandt, recalling that he had been asked recently about the opinion of the Legal Counsel regarding automobile parking in the City of New York in relation to those new measures that had been announced by the host country, drew attention to a document issued today (document A/AC.154/307). He said that it was a letter dated 21 March from the Chairman of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country addressed to members of the Committee, and which contained the opinion of the Legal Counsel on the subject. He read out the concluding paragraph, as follows: "Generally the elements of the city programme are clearly within the scope of the Host Country's power to establish the laws and regulations governing the operation and parking of diplomatic vehicles and related matters and do not seem to raise objections under international law. Part of the programme should even be welcome as likely to reduce the current difficulty of diplomatic missions in securing parking and avoiding unjustified tickets. However, as identified above, certain provisions of the programme do not appear to be consistent with international law."
The Associate Spokesman pointed out that the Committee would be meeting tomorrow, and the question of parking was scheduled to be considered. The meeting would be at 10 a.m., open to delegations as well as the press. He invited correspondents to be present to cover what "promises to be a very lively meeting".
Turning to other issues, he said that the Secretary-General's report on Angola (document S/1997/248) was out, the second such report in the past two weeks. As he had told correspondents yesterday, he noted, the report had been expected, and was submitted late yesterday to the Security Council. In the report, the Secretary-General recommended that the Council consider the possibility of extending the mandate of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) for two more weeks, until 15 April.
The Secretary-General also said in the report, Mr. Brandt continued, that his visit to Angola, and in particular, the meetings held with President
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Eduardo dos Santos and with rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, had given rise to expectations that new vigour could be injected into the peace process. The resolution of the future status of the UNITA leader and the promise of Mr. Savimbi to send to Luanda the rest of the UNITA National Assembly deputies and the other designated officials with a view to establishing the Government of National Unity and Reconciliation were encouraging signs. However, the Secretary-General recommended only a two-week extension of the UNAVEM III mandate, in view of the uncertainty concerning the exact date for the inauguration of the government. Also on Angola, he said there would be consultations among members of the Security Council and troop contributors on UNAVEM III today at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 3.
The Associate Spokesman announced that the Secretary-General had arrived in Lome, Togo, last night. He was the second speaker today in the Summit Meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), after the President of the host country, followed by the OAU Secretary-General, Salim Ahmed Salim, and President Paul Biya of Cameroon, the Chairman of the OAU. Fifteen heads of State and foreign ministers as well as other dignitaries were present. The summit had started a bit late, its opening delayed until noon. The Secretary- General was expected to have a great deal of meetings, and he had been doing just that, with a lot of behind-the-scenes work and consultations.
Mr. Brandt said that before the conference began, the Secretary-General had meet with Thabo Mbeki, the Executive Deputy President of South Africa, and President Sam Nujoma of Namibia, before attending a working lunch organized by the Resident Representative of the UNDP. The lunch was also attended by the United Nations community in Lome; the Secretary-General talked to them about his plans for reform and the importance of working in unity. After lunch he met with the Prime Minister of Algeria, and a closed-session meeting was scheduled to begin at about 4 p.m. local time. The speech of the Secretary- General in Lome was out, Mr. Brandt said, and was available in the office of the Spokesman and as a press release on the racks. In it, the Secretary- General had expressed the commitment of the United Nations and the international community to the peace process in Zaire, and had paid tribute to all of the people on the ground who had dedicated themselves to that process, as well as the agencies who had sometimes been unfairly criticized.
Recalling a question he had been asked about a group of students who had crowded the General Assembly Hall, he said that the occasion had been the opening ceremony of the Model United Nations Conference, which was held yesterday evening. It had featured more than 2,000 delegates from colleges throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Russian Federation and several other countries. At the opening ceremony, they heard addresses by the Permanent Representative of the United States, Bill Richardson, and by Gillian Sorensen, the Assistant Secretary-General for External Relations. The delegates would be meeting in simulations of United Nations councils and committees for the next four days, for the most part at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The press was welcome to attend and to cover their proceedings. For those
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interested, the Associate Spokesman was available to provide further information on the matter after the briefing.
He then announced that the recently taped World Chronicle television programme with Serguei Batsanov, Director for External Relations in the provisional technical secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, would be shown today on in-house television channels 6, 23 and 38 at 2:30 p.m.
A correspondent asked if someone from the Legal Department could brief the media concerning the parking issues. Mr. Brandt asked the correspondent to pose his questions after he had read the report which had just been published, as it was quite extensive and it addressed the issue he was raising in great detail.
Asked if he had a comment on behalf of the United Nations on the issue of cafeteria staff currently wearing signs concerning a labour dispute with Restaurant Associates, the Associate Spokesman said that the short answer to the question was "No". The United Nations had nothing to do with the issue, as it was part of the ongoing industry activity by which restaurant-management companies maintained their labour relations with labour unions. He read out from a text on that issue. "At this point in time, the restaurant-associate arrangement with the unions is under negotiation. Their union negotiation is parallel, but unrelated to the Restaurant Associates negotiations with the United Nations. Regarding that, and their contract with us, we expect to reach an agreement sometime by the end of this week." He added that he had no doubt whatsoever, that the Restaurant Associates would honour their commitment to the union, of which their employees were members. He was confident that any such agreement reached would be a mutually-acceptable agreement. "We are closely following the situation", he said.
A correspondent drew attention to an editorial in The Washington Post today concerning United States Congress and the United Nations new initiative on reform. Did he have any comment? None, Mr. Brandt answered.
Another correspondent recalled that about a year ago, the Organization had launched a System-wide Special Initiative on Africa. Was anybody monitoring it; had money been raised or spent; and was the Secretary-General supportive of it?
"Very much so", Mr. Brandt answered, pointing out that a couple of weeks ago, the Secretary-General had mentioned the Initiative in a speech. He had strongly supported it, and had continued to highlight the need for the international community to centre their attention on the plight of Africa. There were some "more formal" developments happening in the next few weeks on the matter, he went on, and he would try to obtain details and highlight them.
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Asked if the Model United Nations event had been promoted by the Organization and whether it received any press coverage, the Associate Spokesman replied that the United Nations was involved in it, but the specifics concerning media coverage directly concerned the organizers. He said he had himself been in some difficulty trying to provide information last night to some of the correspondents concerning the event. He had made some contacts and some correspondents were able to cover the event, but he could not confirm whether any of them were television crews or not. "It was quite an event, 2,000 youth delegates representing Member States and making and listening to speeches. That is why I am highlighting it."
A correspondent asked what had made yesterday's award by the Washington- based Centre for Democracy to President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina a United Nations event and how it became so, as the President of the General Assembly had spoken at the occasion. Mr. Brandt replied that it "really was not a United Nations event as such". It just so happened that it took place at the United Nations; it was organized by the Permanent Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina and they -- through the President of the General Assembly -- made it possible. The United Nations was the venue for that "very important occasion". For further information, he directed the correspondent to the Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Answering another question on the visit of the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to Skopje, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Brandt said that he had nothing on it, but would check.
The Associate Spokesman was also asked to comment on the resignation of Manfred Nowak, Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights on missing persons in the former Yugoslavia. He said there was a text from Geneva, available in the office of the Spokesman, which explained the resignation in great detail and why he felt he was not getting sufficient support from the international community.
Concerning the mission to Albania, a correspondent wanted to know who was heading it, and when it was expected back in New York. Mr. Brandt said that it was headed by the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, and had just arrived in Tirana. The team would spend five days in Albania, and would subsequently prepare its report, which would assess the situation from the humanitarian point of view. He did not have the name of the group's head, but would obtain it. He confirmed, however, that the team also included representatives of UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP and the WHO.
Asked to comment on a report that President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire had offered to share power with rebel leader Laurent Kabila, Mr. Brandt said that both the Government of Zaire and representatives of Mr. Kabila were present in Lome for the OAU Summit and he expected that the issue would be discussed. "We will have to wait for the outcome of the Summit. Fred Eckhard
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tells me that originally the Summit was going to last until tomorrow, 27 March, but there is a move to see if they can extend the work of the conference, at the summit level, until Friday, so I will be in a better position to tell you about it later today or tomorrow."
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), said that at a meeting of the Assembly tomorrow afternoon, it would consider a request by the Secretary-General to include an item on the election of judges to the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Judges are elected for terms of four years, and the term of the current set of judges would end on 16 November.
The Assembly would also consider the appointment of a member of the Committee on Contributions, she said. The Secretary-General had received the resignation of William Grant of the United States from the Committee, and the United States had nominated David Leis, a programme analyst in the Office of the United Nations System Administration, Department of State, to serve out the remainder of the term of Mr. Grant. His term would expire on 31 December. She noted that the Committee advised the Assembly on apportionment among Member States of the expenses of the Organization.
Also tomorrow afternoon, Ms. Abdul-Majid continued, the Assembly would consider three documents on Guatemala. One was a draft resolution (document A/51/L.69), by which the Assembly would extend the mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) for a further period of one year until 31 March 1998; the current mandate expired on 31 March. The Assembly would also decide that the mission would be known as the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala -- keeping the current acronym -- to carry out the international verification of peace accords in accordance with the Secretary-General's recommendations. In the Secretary- General's report (document A/51/828), he stated that the parties had requested him to set up a mission to verify all the agreements signed between them. They had also requested that the present MINUGUA, with the human rights verification mandate, be a component of the new mission. The functions of the new mission would comprise verification, good offices, advisory services and public information. The parties had also requested that the duration of the mission's mandate be four years (1997-2000). The verification areas identified in the Secretary-General's report were human rights; indigenous affairs; social, economic and agrarian; strengthening of civilian power and role of the army in a democratic society; and resettlement and integration.
The Secretary-General had said that in order for the mission to fulfil its expanded mandate, a total of $21 million net was required for the period 1 April to 31 December 1997, she continued. The cost for the biennium 1998-1999 was estimated at approximately $56 million. She further stated that this afternoon the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was meeting to consider the programme budget implication of the draft resolution extending the mandate of MINUGUA (document A/C.5/51/47).
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Continuing, she said that the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) had met and concluded its work for the fifty-first session on 14 March, by approving without a vote, an omnibus resolution addressing the situation in 12 Non-Self-Governing Territories. That draft resolution (document A/51/588 Add.1) would go before the Assembly tomorrow afternoon. The resolution also covered specific actions for the 12 territories, which were: American Samoa, Anguila, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. She commended Press Release GA/SPD/104 of 14 March to correspondents who did not have the time to read the main document (A/51/588/Add.1), which was "quite voluminous".
The Assembly would also have before it a letter from St. Lucia expressing its desire to become a member of the Special Committee on decolonization. She recalled that the Committee was established in 1961 to examine the application of the 1960 Decolonization Declaration, and currently had 22 members.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said that the Assembly would consider the recommendation of the Fifth Committee for the appropriation of $17.9 million for UNOMIL for the period 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997. That was among the recommendations of the Fifth Committee draft resolution contained in document A/51/504 Add.1.
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