DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970515
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Juan Carlos Brandt, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by stating that there was not much information about the refugee situation in eastern Zaire other than that nine flights, from Kisangani to Rwanda, with approximately 2,000 refugees, had been successfully completed today. The number of refugees moved from Kisangani to date now totalled 26,248.
Mr. Brandt said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was still trying very had to gain access to refugees south of Biaro. He said correspondents might have read stories in today's newspapers and on the wire services about the efforts yesterday of the Deputy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sergio Vieira de Mello, to reach the refugees in that area. His team had been stopped at a checkpoint manned by armed elements of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo/Zaire (ADFL) who had prevented them from proceeding further. The UNHCR mission would continue with their efforts, he said.
The Security Council was this morning being briefed on the latest situation in Zaire by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall, Mr. Brandt said. Council members would also discuss a letter from the Secretary-General on strengthening the International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Brandt said he understood that a draft resolution was being prepared and if agreement was reached, an open meeting might possibly take place tomorrow, Friday, for the Council to act on the text. Under other matters on its agenda, the Council might discuss its possible role on refugee problems. Mr. Brandt said he had been told that the Council planned an open meeting on that question on 21 May. It was an issue that had been discussed for some time and included ideas on what role the Council could play in the increasingly important question of refugees in various parts of the world. He reminded correspondents of this afternoon's meeting, at 3:30 p.m., of the countries contributing troops to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO); that would be followed by a meeting of the Sanctions Committee on Libya.
Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General, continuing his visit to the Russian Federation, this morning had met with E.S. Stroyev, Chairman of the Federation Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). They discussed regional approaches to peace-keeping and conflict resolution. About 11:30 a.m. (local time) and through lunch, the Secretary-General met with Foreign Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov. In their discussion, they dealt with a number of issues, among them, conflict resolution, Georgia/Abkhazia, Iraq and
sanctions, the Middle East situation, Afghanistan, former Yugoslavia and chemical weapons. Following that meeting, the Secretary-General gave a short press conference. The text of his remarks had not yet been received.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General had met with Prime Minister Victor S. Chernomyrdin, Mr. Brandt continued, adding that they had talked about economies in transition, privatization and a range of other economic issues. The Secretary-General then met with representatives of United Nations staff located in Moscow. He basically gave them his message that it was absolutely critical for them to work closely as a family. "We can accomplish much more when we work as a team", he told them.
Mr. Brandt said a World Food Programme (WFP) press release was available in the Spokesman's Office. As the food crisis deepened in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had dispatched a joint team of experts to assess the worsening food shortages in that country. The FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission would be in the country from 17 to 24 May. The team would visit the worst affected areas, particularly the northern regions where people were resorting to foraging for wild plants, and eating ground corn stalks, rice straw, bean pods and pine tree bark. The last FAO/WFP assessment mission had reported that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea needed 2.36 million tons of additional food to meet its basic needs this year. In addition, the team had warned that there were only enough food stocks to feed the country through June, raising a spectre of starvation and famine in the months to come. Mr. Brandt recalled that the Secretary-General had indicated during his visit to Japan that he intended to send the Emergency Coordinator and Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Yasushi Akashi to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea sometime in June.
Mr. Brandt said that the First Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention had, on 13 May, appointed by acclamation Ambassador Jose Mauricio Bustani of Brazil as the first Director- General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), for a four-year term. A press release on the appointment and a biographical note on Ambassador Bustani were available in the Spokesman's Office. On the same day, the Conference also appointed by acclamation Ambassador Prabhakar Menon of India as the first Chairman of the Executive Council of the Organization. Yesterday, the Conference approved several recommendations, including financial regulations for the Organization, guidelines for procedures of verification and for the conduct of inspections at chemical weapons destruction facilities. A press release on the Conference was also available. An updated list of States which had signed or ratified the Convention on the Prohibition, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction -- as the Convention is formally known -- was available in the Spokesman Office. The Convention entered into force on 29 April, he added.
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 15 May 1997
With regard to forthcoming press conferences, Mr. Brandt said that tomorrow, 16 May, at 11 a.m., the Chairman of the Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Ivan Tosevski of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, accompanied by Jonas Foli of Ghana, Diego Garcia-Sayan of Peru and Manfred Nowak of Austria, all experts of the Working Group, would be discussing their activities. The Working Group had been meeting at Headquarters since 12 May to review more than 700 cases which had been brought to its attention since its November 1996 session.
Mr. Brandt drew attention to Press Release HR/CN/809 of 13 May on the Working Group's current session. He particularly called attention to Mr. Foli, a member of the Commission on Human Rights Investigative Commission to Eastern Zaire who had spent some time with his colleagues in Kigali trying to obtain final clearance from the ADFL to begin their work in the region, as mandated by the Commission. The team was not granted access and had to abandon the mission. Mr. Brandt said it would be interesting for correspondents to hear what Mr. Foli would have to say on the subject.
The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), he said, had requested him to announce that the Task Force on the reorientation of the United Nations public information activities wants UNCA members to know "what's right and most importantly, what's wrong with DPI". The Task Force would meet UNCA members on Monday, 19 May, at 5 p.m. at the UNCA Club. Mr. Brandt urged them to come up with what "needs to be changed for the best in DPI. We'll all appreciate your input. It's high time for you to express your views on what we do wrong and right".
He informed correspondents that he would be away on a three-week home leave and that Hiro Ueki would conduct the briefing from tomorrow, Friday, until the return of Fred Eckhard, the Spokesman, some time next week.
A correspondent asked whether Mr. Brandt could tell them what would be discussed and what might come out of this afternoon's meeting of the Libya Sanctions Committee. Mr. Brandt said he did not have any particular details, other than to speculate on the recent developments on the apparent violation of the sanctions regime by Libya. Comments made outside the Security Council Chamber by some Council members a couple of days ago could be "a good indication" of what the Sanctions Committee might do.
Asked what the latest developments in Zaire were, besides the refugee problems, Mr. Brandt said he was sure correspondents were aware that yesterday's scheduled meeting between Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko and ADFL leader Laurent Kabila did not take place. That was why he had not mentioned it. "It was a great setback for everybody involved", he said, adding "we all regret that". He referred to a statement made by the joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 15 May 1997
the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, that he would continue his efforts. In that spirit, Ambassador Sahnoun was back in South Africa. There was an expectation, Mr. Brandt said, that Mr. Kabila would agree to a meeting with President Mobutu at some point. He understood that the Zairian President was back in Kinshasa.
Who had initiated the forthcoming meeting of the Security Council on its possible role in refugee matters? a correspondent asked. She also asked whether the idea had come from the UNHCR. Mr. Brandt said it was an idea some Council members had been talking about for some time now, and felt should be debated to determine in what way the Council could deal with the growing critical refugee problem. Did the United Nations Charter provide for Council involvement in refugee problems? the correspondent further asked. Mr. Brandt said it provided for Council action on peace and security issues and he did not think he would be treading in uncharted waters in suggesting that refugee questions impacted on those questions. Massive movements of people, as was being witnessed in Zaire and in other parts of the world, and their effect on receiving countries had peace and security implications which had to be examined, he said.
In response to a question about his reference to Under-Secretary-General Yasushi Akashi, Mr. Brandt said he was from Japan and had accompanied the Secretary-General on his visit to that country. The Secretary-General in his discussions with Japanese officials about the severe food shortages in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had announced his intention to dispatch Mr. Akashi there some time in June to assess the situation. He told another correspondent that he believed Mr. Akashi would return to Headquarters next week.
Asked when the Chief Prosecutor of the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Justice Louise Arbour, would meet with correspondents, Mr. Brandt expressed regret that she would not be able to do so. Every effort had been made to arrange the briefing. Justice Arbour had, however, called the Spokesman's Office in the morning to explain that she was tied up with meetings of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and that she also had to leave the country tonight. She had promised to "try very hard" to meet correspondents on her next visit to Headquarters, Mr. Brandt said.
Replying to a question about Haiti, Mr. Brandt said he had not read anything about the country's Prime Minister calling for the annulment of the recent elections there, as was stated by a correspondent. He would, however, be happy to check for him.
* *** *