DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970501
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, introduced the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), Rolf Ekeus, and the Permanent Representative of Australia, Richard Butler, who were with him at today's noon briefing.
Mr. Eckhard then read the following statement:
"The Secretary-General has accepted, with regret, the resignation of Rolf Ekeus from the post of Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). Ambassador Ekeus, who has held the post since the Commission was set up by the Security Council in 1991, is to return to the service of his Government.
"The Secretary-General wishes to pay high tribute to the work of Ambassador Ekeus. He has handled a very delicate mission with skill and has made substantial progress in implementing an especially difficult mandate with determination and objectivity.
"The Secretary-General has appointed Richard Butler to succeed Ambassador Ekeus, with effect from 1 July 1997. The intervening two-month period will leave time for a smooth transition.
"Ambassador Butler will bring to the post both personal dynamism and wise experience in diplomacy and, in particular, in the complex field of disarmament.
"Ambassador Butler is currently Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations."
(The remarks to the press made by Ambassadors Ekeus and Butler have been issued separately.)
Continuing, the Spokesman told correspondents that this morning, 2,300 refugees were at the transit centre near Kisangani, Zaire. They had been brought there by train, overnight, by rebel forces. Of that group, 1,512 were flown to Kigali and Cyangugu during the day; another 800 remained in the transit centre. In Biaro, located south of Kisangani, there were now 20,000 refugees, he noted, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had sent trucks today to assist them. However, United Nations personnel still did not have access to the area south of Biaro, where several thousand refugees were known to be.
An additional 30,000 refugees, including at least 1,000 armed persons, showed up in Mbandaka, located at about 700 kilometres north of Kinshasa, near the Congo border, Mr. Eckhard said. "As it turns out, the World Food Programme has a warehouse in that area, with stocks of maize, and would begin bringing humanitarian assistance to the unarmed elements of that refugee population", he added.
"The whole world", Mr. Eckhard noted, "is aware of the excellent work that the UNHCR, the other agencies and non-governmental organizations have been doing in assisting the refugees of eastern Zaire, in an almost impossible situation, with inadequate security and repeated obstructions by those who control the territory."
"We have been encouraged by the strong international support that they have received and the attention that has been given to their efforts", he continued. "We are also relieved that Mr. Kabila's Alliance and the Government of Rwanda are now providing full, unimpeded cooperation. If this is maintained, the work of the UNHCR and other agencies will be greatly facilitated."
Turning to the Security Council, Mr. Eckhard recalled that the Council had issued a Presidential Statement on Zaire late last night (document S/PRST/1997/24). On the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights Violations in Zaire, he told correspondents that the three members of the Joint Investigative Mission had begun two days of preparatory meetings today, under the chairmanship of Ralph Zacklin, Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Centre for Human Rights.
The three members of the Commission, Mr. Eckhard said, would be briefed by United Nations agencies, as well as by non-governmental organizations, and would elaborate the terms of reference of their mission, as well as a work plan. They would also hear the views of both the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo/Zaire (ADFL) and of the Zairian Government. The group was scheduled to travel to the region on Saturday, 3 May. (A press release from the United Nations Office in Geneva was available in room 378.)
The Secretary-General was sending a letter to the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmonov, wishing a speedy recovery from the leg injury he sustained yesterday when a hand grenade was thrown at his car in the northern city of Khujand, Mr. Eckhard said. The incident caused the death of two persons and injured a total of 49.
"The Secretary-General was shocked to learn of the assassination attempt and the sudden loss of life", the Spokesman continued. The United Tajik Opposition, he added, had condemned the act in a statement and denied involvement in the incident. The Secretary-General and his Special Representative for Tajikistan, Gerd Merrem, remained committed to the pursuit
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 1 May 1997
of national reconciliation in Tajikistan through a peaceful settlement of the conflict and called on all persons and parties to cooperate in that effort.
Turning to Angola, the Spokesman said that the first step in normalizing State administration throughout the country had been taken yesterday in the province of M'Banza Congo, at a ceremony marking the arrival of the central Government's authority in the only provincial capital under the control of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Eleven ministers of the new Government of Unity and National Reconciliation flew in for the event from Luanda, together with 100 other participants, which included representatives of the United Nations, the Troika -- Portugal, Russian Federation, United States -- and UNITA.
The Security Council was in consultations this morning with the new presidency for the month of May (Republic of Korea), conducting the 60-day review of the sanctions against Iraq, the Spokesman said.
The Secretary-General's appointments for the day had started this morning with the President of Rotary International, Luis Vicente Giay, who introduced Rotary's new Representative for Women's Issues, Joan Fyfe, and introduced the Secretary-General to their agenda on Women's Issues, Mr. Eckhard said.
Tomorrow was World Press Freedom Day, the Spokesman said, and there was a press kit from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) available in room 378.
A correspondent asked about the status of the talks between President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and rebel leader Joseph Laurent Kabila scheduled for tomorrow, as they seemed to be on-and-off all the time. "All we know is what you know", Mr. Eckhard replied. "They've agreed to meet on a South African vessel." Originally it was scheduled for Friday, then it was postponed. The time and date were still uncertain.
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