DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970422
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began the noon briefing today by reading a statement issued by the World Food Programme (WFP) expressing outrage over the theft of relief food in Kisangani, Zaire.
The Spokesman said that Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of WFP, "strongly deplored" the theft of some 200 tons of relief food from a WFP train and depot in the Kisangani area. The food was sufficient to feed 100,000 refugees for four full days. There was a similar call today by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, had issued a strong call for action as the situation in eastern Zaire deteriorated further into tragedy. In a statement attributable to Ms. Bellamy, Mr. Eckhard said that "as the world watches and waits, hundreds of children are at death's door. But food and medicine are close at hand. These innocent children can be saved."
Mr. Eckhard said that "Zaire continues to teeter on the brink of chaos. The question is whether it will be a hard or a soft landing". Efforts by the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), led by the Joint United Nations/OAU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, were designed to facilitate a peaceful transition to democracy. The two sides in their talks in South Africa did agree on a framework for a peaceful transition. But, until now, there had not been a follow-through on the commitments given to Mr. Sahnoun. The alternative, of course, was considerable bloodshed in and around Kinshasa. "For the soft landing, both sides need to soften their current positions, and this is what the Secretary- General is calling on them to do", the Spokesman said.
He said that in the Security Council this morning, the Department of Peace-keeping Operations was briefing Council members on the situation concerning the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). The Transitional Administrator Jacques Paul Klein had formally certified the elections in Eastern Slavonia today at approximately 4:30 p.m. local time. In his certification, Mr. Klein stated that more than 126,000 people had voted for 28 municipalities inside the region. Of those, more than 70,000 people had voted inside the region at 193 polling stations, including at 30 polling stations for the 1,600 displaced persons, who registered according to their 1991 addresses. That high turnout was beyond expectation. More than 56,000 persons displaced from the region cast absentee ballots at 75 locations elsewhere in Croatia. All voters had showed dignity, determination and patience during the voting process.
There was a note from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr. Eckhard said, concerning its efforts to support upcoming elections in Yemen. On Sunday, that country would hold its second national democratic elections since civil war ended there in 1994. The UNDP would provide technical expertise to the country's Supreme Elections Committee and was coordinating international staffing and funding to help oversee the balloting and the tallying process.
With a check for just over $4 million, Greece had become the fifty-third Member State to have fully paid its assessment to the United Nations regular budget for the current year, Mr. Eckhard said. The Organization had also received $12 million from the United States as partial payment towards its peace-keeping obligations. The report on the status of contributions, issued in the middle of each month, was available in the Spokesman's office. As of 15 April, outstanding contributions totalled $2.7 billion. Of that amount, $1.027 billion was for the regular budget, and the remainder for peace-keeping.
The Spokesman announced a press conference scheduled for Thursday in room 226, by the Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muhamed Sacirbey. He would announce the "Grand Funk Railroad" group benefit concerts for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The President of the Security Council, Antonio Monteiro (Portugal), would brief correspondents on "The Security Council and the media" on Wednesday, the Spokesman said. The briefing, sponsored by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), would be in the UNCA Club at 1:30 p.m. "Portuguese snacks will be served", he noted. Also hosted by UNCA was a briefing today at 1:30 p.m. by Smail Cekic, a Professor at Sarajevo University and Head of the Institute for War Crimes in Sarajevo.
There would be a memorial service today at 4:30 p.m. at UNICEF House for Mohamed "Mo" Amin, the photojournalist whose images of victims of famine in Ethiopia triggered a worldwide fund-raising and relief effort that saved a couple of million lives. Mr. Amin would be honoured this afternoon.
Before introducing the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph Connor to brief correspondents on managerial reform in the United Nations, Mr. Eckhard was asked whether a study by Professor Paul Kennedy of Yale University on the future of the Organization, referred to in a new book on Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the United Nations, and commissioned in 1995, had been released. The Spokesman said he did not know and would have to check. Mr. Connor offered that "yes", the study had been released about one year ago.
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