DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970613
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at today's noon briefing that the Secretary-General met at 9:30 a.m. with the Republican Senator from Minnesota, Rod Grams, a key figure in the legislation that emerged yesterday from the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on that country's funding for the United Nations.
Senator Grams had organized a reception for the Secretary-General when he visited Washington, D.C. in January involving the entire Minnesota delegation, Mr. Eckhard said. The Secretary-General did his undergraduate studies at Macalester College in Minnesota, he added.
Mr. Eckhard said that following his briefing, the Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Centre for Human Rights in Geneva, Ralph Zacklin, would brief correspondents on plans to send an investigative team to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Secretary-General met today with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, Justice Louise Arbour, Mr. Eckhard said. Later, he would meet with the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Eduardo Stein Barillas.
Mr. Eckhard said the Secretary-General has appointed Liviu Bota (Romania) as his resident Special Representative for Georgia and head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), effective 1 July. Mr. Bota will succeed Edouard Brunner, who has served as Special Envoy for Georgia and head of UNOMIG since May 1993. Mr. Bota has been resident Deputy Special Envoy for Georgia since 1 October 1995. A statement on the appointment was available in the Spokesman's Office.
In Geneva today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that it was concerned about the fate of some 18,000 Rwandan refugees in Congo-Brazzaville, Mr. Eckhard said. The UNHCR had been unable to reach them since fighting broke out there last week. One group of refugees had been in a transit camp at Bilolo, where a food ration was to have been delivered a week ago last Thursday. However, UNHCR had been denied access to the camp by armed men and was concerned that the refugees had now run out of food.
The United Nations was evacuating its remaining staff from Congo- Brazzaville with the assistance of the French military who were evacuating expatriates, Mr. Eckhard said. The World Food Programme (WFP) had chartered aircraft to assist the French with the evacuation.
The WFP announced today that it would start a limited food relief distribution programme targeted at tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Freetown and urban centres around Sierra Leone, Mr. Eckhard said. The distribution would be carried out by non-governmental organizations still in the country. Although 1,600 metric tons of WFP food in Freetown had been looted last month, there were still 10,000 metric tons of food in Sierra Leone -- enough to feed more than 600,000 people for one month.
At his press conference yesterday, the Secretary-General told correspondents he would make available the text of his letter to the Group of Eight Summit in Denver, Colorado, Mr. Eckhard said. That letter stressed three main areas: globalization, development cooperation and the special needs of Africa; environmental challenges; and strengthening the United Nations. Copies of the letter were now available in the Spokesman's office.
The Secretary-General would meet with the heads of major United States foundations from 11 a.m. to 12 noon, on Monday, 16 June, Mr. Eckhard said. Most organizations had difficulty meeting with one head of a foundation, yet the Secretary-General would meet with a dozen of them to discuss linkages with the United Nations and how they might enter into collaborative arrangements with the Organization. A list of the foundation heads was available in the Spokesman's office.
Outstanding contributions to the United Nations, as of 31 May, were $744 million for the regular budget, just over $9 million for the International Criminal Tribunals, and roughly $1.7 billion for peace-keeping operations, Mr. Eckhard said. Total outstanding assessed contributions were $2.448 billion. The United States share of that amount was $1.469 billion -- approximately $499 million for the regular budget and $970 million for peace-keeping.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) would celebrate the Day of the African Child on Monday, 16 June, Mr. Eckhard said. The United States National Committee for UNICEF would present its "Africa's Future Award" to the national staff of the UNICEF office in Liberia for their courage and commitment in helping children during the past tumultuous year in that country. A reception would be held today at 6:30 p.m. at the Chase Manhattan Bank at Forty-ninth Street and Park Avenue. Health officer Angela Benson would be present to receive the award. "See, that is why UNICEF is so financially successful. We would have our reception here in the lobby", he said.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would commemorate the World Day to Combat Desertification -- Tuesday 17 June -- with an exhibit in the Headquarter's public lobby, Mr. Eckhard said. "See, they should be at Chase Manhattan Bank", he added. The exhibit on the causes, effects and responses to desertification was jointly sponsored by UNDP's Office to Combat
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 13 June 1997
Desertification and Drought (UNSO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International NGO Network on Decertification and Drought.
Daily briefings on the forthcoming special session of the General Assembly "Earth Summit + 5", would begin on Monday, 16 June, in room 226, Mr. Eckhard said. The Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, Nitin Desai, would give the "kick-off" briefing at 11:15 a.m., followed by daily briefings through next week and the week after, when the special session would take place. [It was later announced that Mr. Desai's briefing would begin at 12:30 p.m. on 16 June, not 11:15 am.]
The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) had successfully negotiated with the Secretariat for new passes for resident correspondents having offices at Headquarters, Mr. Eckhard said. The UNCA bulletin board had a list of the correspondents who could get the new ID cards, which carried the words "Res Corr". They entitled the bearer to use the staff entrances during the special session, rather than going through the metal detectors at the north entrance. The passes could be picked up at the temporary accreditation centre in the Alcoa Building at Forty-eighth Street.
The Security Council would hold consultations on Iraq at 3:30 p.m. today, Mr. Eckhard said. It would discuss a draft presidential statement on the Iraqi obstruction of inspections by the United Nations Special Commission, set up under Security Council resolution 687 (1991) in connection with the disposal of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The obstruction was brought to the Council's attention on Wednesday, 11 June, in a letter from the Executive Director of the Commission, Rolf Ekeus. If there was agreement on the text, the Council would hold a formal meeting.
The International Bar Association would hold a session this afternoon entitled "the legal profession and human rights", to mark its fiftieth anniversary, Mr. Eckhard said. The United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, would deliver a speech to the session, which would be held from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Conference Room 4. The text of the speech was available in the Spokesman's office, with an embargo till 2:30 p.m.
Samsiah Abdul Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, said the Assembly acted on 19 items, mainly on financing of peace- keeping operations, during this morning's session. It appropriated approximately $850 million to those operations for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998. Decisions of the Assembly, except on the financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), were adopted without a vote.
Paragraph 8 of the UNIFIL resolution, by which the Assembly decided that Israel should bear the costs of $1.77 million resulting from the incident at the United Nations headquarters at Qana on 18 April 1996, was adopted by a vote of 66 in favour to 2 against (United States and Israel), with 59 abstentions, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. The resolution as a whole was adopted by a
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 13 June 1997
vote of 127 in favour, 2 against (United States and Israel) with one abstention (Russian Federation). The total UNIFIL appropriation for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998 was $124.9 million.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said the Assembly authorized appropriations for the following peace-keeping operations: $48 million for the United Nations Peace- keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP); $33.6 million for United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF); $51.5 million for United Nations Iraq- Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM); $30.1 million for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO); $20.4 million for the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL); $15 million for the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH); $18.5 million for the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG); $8.3 million for the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT); $275.3 million for the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES); $178.8 million for the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH); and $46.5 million for the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP).
At the outset of the session, the Assembly President informed members of the death of the Permanent Representative of Denmark, Ambassador Benny Kimberg, and conveyed heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Denmark, and to the bereaved family, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. The Assembly then observed a minute of silence in tribute to the Ambassador's memory.
The President also announced that Nicaragua and Vanuatu had paid the necessary amount of their assessed contributions to reduce their arrears, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. In accordance with provisions of Article 19 of the United Nations Charter, they could now vote in the Assembly. Currently, 17 Member States were affected by Article 19.
She said the General Committee, which recommends items to be included in the Assembly's agenda, met this morning and recommended the inclusion of an item on United Nations reform on the proposal of the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General had written to the Assembly President of his intention to submit his reform proposals to Member States on 16 July.
In addition to Under-Secretary-General Desai's briefing, as announced by Mr. Eckhard, Ms. Abdul-Majid called attention to the following briefings which would be held next week in connection with the special session: the President of the Assembly, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, 19 June; the Chairman of the fifth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, 20 June; and the Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, following the noon briefing on Tuesday and Wednesday, 17 and 18 June. A complete list of the briefings, which would be held in room 226, was available in the Spokesman's office.
Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 13 June 1997
The Department of Public Information (DPI) had updated its press kit on Earth Summit + 5 and issued a handy fact sheet to help correspondents telescope on particular issues, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. For example, on consumption and production patterns, the fact sheet outlined the current situation, action taken and proposals before the special session. For expanded information on the subject, correspondents could then refer to the backgrounder in the press kit, which also contained backgrounders on other main issues. The backgrounder and fact sheet were available at the following internet address: http:/www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/sustdev/indexsd.htm.
The Notes to Correspondents on media arrangements (Note No. 5410), and on the schedule of activities (Note No. 5412) would be regularly updated, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. The latest list of speakers (No. 7) as well as the list of media contacts for television or radio coverage, were also available.
In reply to a question, Ms. Abdul-Majid said the list of major groups speaking in plenary of the special session would be available next week. To another question, she said the Assembly would take up a resolution on death and disability compensation for United Nations peace-keepers on Tuesday, 17 June.
* *** *