DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970520
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's press briefing by informing correspondents that the formerly gloomy space in the tunnel leading from the Dag Hammarskjold Library to First Avenue had been brightened by an installation of historical photographs and United Nations posters. The low budget face-lift had been carried out by the Department of Public Information's (DPI) Exhibits Director Jan Arnesen, at the suggestion of Nane Annan.
The Secretary-General was in Vienna today and would not be returning to New York until tomorrow, Mr. Eckhard said. He had met this morning with Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wolfgang Schussel. Topics for discussion were Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cyprus, as well as the Secretary-General's plan to strengthen the United Nations Vienna based activities in the areas of drug control and crime prevention. The Secretary- General then met with Austrian President Thomas Klestil, visited Parliament and met with the President of the National Council. He also held a press conference, a summary of which was available in the Spokesman's Office.
In the afternoon, a lunch was given in the Secretary-General's honour by Austrian Chancellor Victor Klima, after which he visited the Vienna International Center, which houses the Vienna-based United Nations offices, he continued. In the evening, the Secretary-General was scheduled to meet with former Austria Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, in his current capacity as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Envoy for Albania, and he would also attend a dinner given by State Secretary Benita Ferrero- Waldner in the Palais Pallavicini.
Today, 1,385 refugees were airlifted on six flights from Kisangani to Rwanda, Mr. Eckhard announced. Very few refugees were currently left at the Biaro camp, but a collection site would remain there in case additional refugees came out of the forest. The effort would now concentrate on the areas south of Biaro where access by road was still impossible. A total of 33,533 refugees had been repatriated from Kisangani to Rwanda.
Regarding Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said the pace of approving sales contracts for humanitarian supplies had picked up last week, based on the weekly report prepared by the Secretariat. Fifty sales contracts were approved in the course of last week, compared with 31 during the previous week. A cumulative total of 226 humanitarian sales contracts out of 483 had now been submitted to the Security Council Committee monitoring the sanctions against Iraq, up to Friday, 16 May. No contracts were blocked last week, and the number so far affected remained at seven. Twenty-three contracts were put on hold, bringing
the total to 143. One-hundred and seven applications were pending. No oil sales contracts were approved earlier this week, and the total submitted and approved remained at 51. The total oil proceeds reached $1.5 billion by the end of last week.
Mr. Eckhard said the Security Council was considering the report on the mandate renewal of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The Secretariat was also scheduled to brief the Council on Guatemala. Under other matters, the Council would be briefed on Cambodia by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Alvaro de Soto, who had recently returned from Cambodia.
The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) (document S/1997/372) was released this morning, Mr. Eckhard announced. It covered the activities of UNDOF during the past six months, 19 November 1996 to 16 May this year, and recommended a six-month extension of the mission's mandate.
Singapore and Bolivia would become the seventh and eighth countries to sign a memorandum of understanding on stand-by arrangements for peace-keeping operations, Mr. Eckhard announced. The signing ceremony with Singapore would take place tomorrow, 21 May, at 3:30 p.m. in the peace-keeping conference room on the 37th floor. The signing ceremony with Bolivia would take place on Thursday, May 22, at 4 p.m. in the same room. The six other countries that have signed the memorandum to date were Jordan, Denmark, Ghana, Malaysia, Austria and Italy. A total of 65 countries had expressed their willingness to participate in the arrangements. The total resources committed by those countries were 87,000 troops, including 50,000 infantry, 10,000 logistics and 7,600 engineers and others.
Chile today became the fifty-seventh Member State to have paid in full its United Nations budget contribution for the current year with a cheque of $100,000, Mr. Eckhard said. So far 57 Member States had paid their contributions in full for 1997. Last year at this date, 63 Member States had paid their contributions in full. The outstanding contributions level was now under $2.5 billion, out of which over $700 million was for the regular budget and more than $1.6 billion for peace-keeping.
Mr. Eckhard announced that the Department of Humanitarian Affairs was sponsoring an international seminar entitled, "Chernobyl and Beyond: Humanitarian Assistance to Victims of Technological Disasters", to be held at the Russian Academy of State Service, in Moscow on 27 and 28 May. A media advisory about the conference had been issued.
The Department of Humanitarian Affairs had also announced that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, was travelling today to the areas of Bangladesh affected by the cyclone disaster, he continued. Detailed
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information on casualties and damage was expected upon her return later today. United Nations system contacts with Noakhali and Cox's Bazar indicated that there had been a massive destruction of homes. In Chittagong there was a disruption in electricity which resulted in acute water shortages. The Department was sending a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team to Bangladesh tomorrow, 21 May, to assist in determining the relief requirements.
The Secretary-General had sent a letter to Member States, dated 16 May, asking for their assistance in financing the demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants in Angola, Mr. Eckhard announced. The operation was being carried out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) -- an organization with observer status with the General Assembly -- which was short of the funds needed to complete the job. Of the total of $48 million needed to carry out the mission only $1 million had been collected so far. That organization planned to demobilize and reintegrate 100,000 soldiers and 300,000 of their dependents, but only 12,000 of those had been assisted to date.
Mr. Eckhard said today the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was holding a "Special Event on Poverty Eradication". Global trends in poverty and case studies of success stories in fighting would be the focus of the programme, which was taking place in the Economic and Social Council Chamber from 10 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. There was a media advisory available on that event.
He then announced that President Sam Nujoma of Namibia would brief correspondents on Thursday, 22 May, in room 226 at 11 a.m. after meeting with the Secretary-General at 10 a.m.
Asked how long it would take to send stand-by troops to an operations scene, Mr. Eckhard said it now took six months to deploy a peace-keeping mission. With the stand-by arrangements the response time could be reduced to a matter of weeks. In addition to stand-by arrangements, there was a new initiative for a Rapidly Deployable Mission Headquarters Unit of about 61 civilians and military representing all the functions, from commander to logistics. That unit could be deployed in 48 hours. Once those two units were fully developed, a reasonably rapid deployment of a peace-keeping mission would be operational, for arrangements under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter only, once the Security Council approved a peace-keeping mission.
When would the Secretary-General announce the name of the next United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General had said that he would make the announcement by the end of July. The correspondent also wanted to know if the Secretary-General would offer the position to President Mary Robinson of Ireland, who is scheduled to meet with him later this week. Mr. Eckhard said
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it was well-known that Ms. Robinson was a candidate, but the Secretary-General had cast a wide net and a number of interesting candidates had come forward.
Asked if former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali would attend any meetings at Headquarters while he was in New York, Mr. Eckhard said he was not aware of any appointments in the building and that he believed Mr. Boutros- Ghali was visiting New York regarding a book he had written about the Camp David Process.
Asked if the Secretary-General had met with former Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim during his current trip to Austria, Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General had held such a meeting.
Reporting on action taken by the General Assembly this morning, Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, said the Assembly had elected nine of the 11 judges for the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The nine judges were: Antonio Cassese (Italy), Richard George May (United Kingdom), Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana), Wang Tieya (China), Claude Jorda (France), Gabrielle Kirk McDonald (United States), Fouad Abdel-Moneim Riad (Egypt), Lal Chand Vohrah (Malaysia) and Rafael Nieto Navia (Colombia). The elections for the two remaining seats were being held at the time of the briefings, and the results would be made available to the Spokesman's Office.
At the outset of this morning's meeting, Ms. Abdul-Majid said, the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), speaking on behalf of the Assembly, extended his deepest sympathy to the Government and people of Iran on the tragic loss of life and extensive material damage from the recent earthquake. Mr. Razali also announced that Burundi, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Madagascar, Mauritania and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had paid their dues below the areas specified in Article 19. A total of 19 countries were currently affected by Article 19. The Assembly had more items on its agenda and would meet again this afternoon in Conference Room 3.
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