DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970423
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that the Secretary-General was relieved to learn yesterday that the hostage crisis in Lima, Peru, had come to an end with the safe rescue of all but one of the hostages. The Secretary-General applauded the determined efforts made by the Government of Peru over the past several months to find a negotiated solution. He regretted that those efforts were not successful and that it was found necessary in the end to resort to force in order to bring that deplorable act of terrorism to a close. The Secretary- General was saddened by the resulting loss of innocent life.
The Security Council was hearing the Secretary-General report primarily on the situation in Zaire, the Spokesman said, but also on his recent trip to India, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Other topics could also arise during the exchange. It was Mr. Eckhard's understanding that the Secretary-General would be joined by the President of the Council to brief correspondents at the stake-out position outside the Security Council Chamber. He would conclude the noon briefing when the Secretary-General emerged.
Mr. Eckhard said that Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia), was at the noon briefing to report on the emergency special session of the Assembly scheduled to begin tomorrow, 24 April. A list of the 10 emergency special sessions, including the one due to start tomorrow, was available in the Spokesman's office.
The Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, James Baker III, had arrived in Rabat, Morocco, this morning where he was scheduled to meet with senior government officials today and tomorrow, the Spokesman said. Upon his arrival, Mr. Baker told the press that he was in the region to listen to the views of the parties and the countries concerned. He said he was not ready to answer any substantive questions at that time.
Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General on 17 March in the "preview" of the "first track" of reform measures had talked about his intention to redesign the Department of Public Information (DPI) by turning it into an Office for Communications and Media Services. In that connection, the Secretary-General had now established a Task Force on the Reorientation of the United Nations Public Information activities.
Mr. Eckhard said the following were the members of the Task Force: Mark Malloch Brown, Vice-President of External Affairs of the Work Bank, who would also serve as Chairman; Ambassador Juan Somavia, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations; Raghida Dergham, Senior Diplomatic Correspondent
of Al-Hayat and President of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA); Joan Ganz Cooney, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Children's Television Workshop; Peter Arnett, Foreign Correspondent for CNN; Hironobu Shibuya, President of Pacific Basin Partners, Inc. which specializes in cross- cultural and corporate communications; and Djibril Diallo, Director of Public Affairs of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Salim Lone, of DPI, would serve as Rapporteur; and Lelei Lelaulu, of the Reform Office, would act as Secretary. Their first meeting was set for tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Just before the briefing, the Spokesman said that he had received a fax from Liberia stating that the Independent Elections Commission Chairman, G. Henry Andrews, had made the following statement today in Monrovia: "The Independent Elections Commission announces that the deadlines for party Conventions; the submission of party lists and candidates; and the official opening of the campaign for the 1997 special elections are hereby suspended until further notice." Mr. Eckhard would try to provide more information on that item in the course of the afternoon.
Mr. Eckhard announced that tomorrow was the second annual "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" here at the United Nations. It would be observed system-wide for the first time this year. The participating entities were the United Nations, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNDP, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The Secretary-General would address the girls at 10 a.m. in Conference Room 3. From 10:15 a.m. to noon, girls aged 9 to 12 would go on a behind-the-scenes tour. Girls aged 13 to 15 would participate in small group discussions with female delegates, journalists and Secretariat staff. The girls would spend the rest of the day in the offices of their parents or mentors. Approximately 500 girls were expected this year, compared to 300 last year. All staff members of delegations and accredited media were invited to bring girls aged 9 to 15 to participate in the activities of the day.
Regarding the Secretary-General's appointments, the Policy Coordinating Group was meeting today, he said. That group included the Under-Secretaries- General, some Assistant Secretaries-General, as well as representatives of funds and agencies, such as UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, and the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The group was the Secretary-General's vehicle for coordinating policy across the board in the system.
There were a few announcements, Mr. Eckhard said, including a press conference scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. on the outcome of deliberations on the "Earth Summit + 5", with the Chairman of the current session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, Mostafa Tolba (Egypt). As mentioned yesterday, an earlier press conference was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Friday by representatives of the non-governmental organizations participating in the negotiations. The World Chronicle television programme featuring Mr. Tolba would be shown today on in-house television channels 6, 23 and 38 at 2:30 p.m.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 23 April 1997
Asked if there was an update on the Cyprus negotiations, Mr. Eckhard said that "next week will be Cyprus week at the UN", with internal discussions beginning on Monday concerning the approach to the Secretary-General's planned convening of face-to-face talks between the two communal leaders. The five Permanent Members of the Security Council were scheduled to meet on Cyprus next Tuesday. Active preparations for the next step of the Secretary- General's plan for Cyprus this year would take place next week.
To a follow-up question about whether there was a list of participants in those discussions, the Spokesman said that they were internal. Gustave Feissel, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus, would be attending, as well as Sung Joo Han, the outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cyprus, and Diego Cordovez, the new Special Adviser on Cyprus.
To a question about whether the Secretary-General had speculated on any kind of United Nations restructuring that would have precluded the use of force in Peru, Mr. Eckhard said he did not think that particular element was in his thoughts on reform and restructuring.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said that, as already announced, the General Assembly would meet in an emergency special session tomorrow, following a request by Qatar and the concurrence of the majority of Member States to consider "illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory".
As of this morning, she continued, there were 40 speakers inscribed to speak. She would try to make that list available to the press by this afternoon. On whether the meeting would continue into Friday, she said at this point, the situation was not clear, but there was the possibility of a meeting on Friday.
The spokeswoman said that for the benefit of those who were away from Headquarters and listening in, she would provide some background information on the session. Such a session was held under General Assembly resolution 377 (V), entitled "Uniting for peace". Under that resolution of 1950, the Assembly resolves that if the Security Council, because of the lack of unanimity of the Permanent Members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said that the Security Council failed on two occasions, 7 March and 21 March, to adopt a draft resolution on the Israeli construction of a new housing settlement in the Jabal Abu Ghneim area of East Jerusalem.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 23 April 1997
The Assembly on 13 March adopted a resolution expressing deep concern at the decision of Israel to initiate new settlement activities in that area of East Jerusalem, she said. It called upon Israel to refrain from all actions, including settlement activities, which alter the facts on the ground, pre- empting the final status negotiations, and have negative implications for the Middle East peace process. That resolution was adopted by a vote of 130 in favour to 2 against (Israel, United States), with 2 abstentions (Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands.
As Mr. Eckhard had indicated, a list of the nine previous emergency special sessions was available in the Spokesman's office, she said. The first session, held in 1956, was on the question of Suez; the ninth was held in 1982.
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