DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970617
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that there had been additional participants at the mini-summit held in Libreville, Gabon, announced at yesterday's briefing. Those participants were the Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, the Foreign Minister of Cameroon, and a political adviser from Benin.
The joint United Nations/Organization of African Unity (OAU) Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, Mohamed Sahnoun, who was in Libreville yesterday for the talks, was traveling to Brazzaville today to speak with the principles in the conflict, Mr. Eckhard said. Mr. Sahnoun would try to overcome some of the obstacles that were encountered in the Libreville talks. The rest of the negotiators were in Libreville awaiting the outcome of Mr. Sahnoun's visit to Brazzaville.
Meanwhile, Mr. Eckhard said, the two fighting parties in Congo- Brazzaville had agreed to a three-day cease-fire. That cease-fire was negotiated under the auspices of the National Mediating Committee, which was headed by the Mayor of Brazzaville, Bernard Kolelas. In a joint communique, the Congolese Army and the armed group of former President Sassou Nguesso announced that the cease-fire would enter into force today at 12 midnight local time, which was 6 p.m. New York time. The two sides also agreed to the demilitarization of the airport to allow for commercial and humanitarian flights.
Regarding Iraq, Mr. Eckhard said the seventeenth weekly report on the implementation of the oil for food plan was provided by the United Nations to Iraq. The Committee established under Council resolution 661 (1990) last week approved 46 sales contracts for humanitarian supplies. Sixteen contracts were put on hold and none had been blocked. There were 11 applications pending.
Mr. Eckhard said the Security Council was scheduled this morning to take up a letter by Albania requesting an extension of the presence of the multinational protection force in that country. The Steering Committee, which was composed of the political directors of the troop-contributing countries and the Commander of the Operation, had recommended an extension of the mandate. The proposed extension would be for a period necessary for completion of the electoral process in Albania, but not longer than 45 days after termination of the present mandate, which expired on 28 June. Two relevant Security Council documents were available on the racks on the third floor.
The Council was also scheduled to take up the Secretary-General's progress report concerning the ending of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) -- which would occur at the end of June -- and including a proposal for a follow-up mission, Mr. Eckhard said. In addition, the Council would be briefed by the Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, Bernard Miyet, on his recent trip to visit to the former Yugoslavia.
Mr. Eckhard said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had issued a press release, available in the Spokesman's office, which stated that Friday, 20 June, was Africa Refugee Day. With 3.9 million refugees, Africa had one of the largest number of refugees in the world. With respect to refugees in Congo-Brazzaville, the document said that a UNHCR emergency team planned to return there tomorrow, 18 June -- to Inpfondo, 750 kilimetres north of Brazzaville. In Inpfondo, the team would to try to locate pockets of what remained of the 18,000 Rwandan refugees who were present in Congo-Brazzaville, but to whom aid workers had not had access since the beginning of the fighting there.
The UNHCR release also contained a report on Congo-Kinshasa, stating that UNHCR staff continued to try to reach isolated pockets of refugees, particularly in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Eckhard said. They were using all means of transportation because it was difficult to access some of the areas, and they were bringing back small groups of refugees -- sometimes only 50 or 100 at a time. Yesterday, for example, UNHCR staff began to reach and repatriate refugees in the Bolomba area, which was a three- to four-hour motorcycle ride from Loolo -- which was four hours by fast boat along the Busira River from Mbandaka. Food and other relief items would be transferred to Loolo, where refugees who were able to walk would be sent to board the UNHCR barge, while others would be collected by light vehicles or trucks available on the spot.
Mr. Eckhard said the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has announced that, after receiving requests from the prosecution in the Jean-Paul Akayesu trial, the Tribunal's judges had modified the indictments against him to include the charges of sexual torture and rape, which Mr. Akayesu witnessed while serving as Bourgemestre of the Taba commune in the spring of 1994. This was the first time the Tribunal had included sexual torture and rape in an indictment handed down by them.
The Executive Committee for Peace and Security met this morning, Mr. Eckhard said. That was the last of the four Executive Committees to review the reform proposals that were being considered by Executive Coordinator for United Nations Reform, Maurice Strong. The Secretary-General was very pleased with those sessions and had found them to be very useful. The sessions have allowed the agency heads, and others with concerns about some of the reform ideas, to express their views and to support ideas that they felt were worthwhile. The Department of Public Information (DPI) Task
Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 17 June 1997
Force, which was Mr. Strong's expert group looking at ways to make that Department more effective, would hold its last meeting this afternoon. Mr. Strong was confident he would meet his deadline of 30 June for presenting a comprehensive draft reform package to the Secretary-General.
Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General was on his way to Washington, D.C., where he had a full programme tomorrow. On Wednesday morning, 18 June, he was first scheduled to address the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS). He then would meet with and take questions from the staff of the Heritage Foundation. At the Brookings Institution, the Secretary-General would address a luncheon. Later, he would make a quick visit to the FDR Memorial and then return to New York later in the afternoon.
At the birthday honours for Queen Elizabeth II this past weekend, Marrack I. Goulding of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General was knighted, Mr. Eckhard said. Mr. Goulding was awarded a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
Mr. Eckhard said that at 12:30 p.m. today there would be a second press briefing on the forthcoming special session of the General Assembly, "Earth Summit + 5". The topic was "finance, changing consumption and production patterns and energy". Tomorrow, there would be three press briefings. At 11 a.m., Joke Waller-Hunter, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development/DPCSD, would introduce a report on unlocking trade opportunities. At 11:30 a.m., Daudi Mwakawago (United Republic of Tanzania), in his capacity as Chairman of the "Group of 77" developing countries, would hold a press briefing. At 12:30 p.m. there would be another "Earth Summit + 5" briefing on the subject "fresh water and forests".
Asked why Mr. Goulding had been knighted, Mr. Eckhard said each of the awards had a special criteria, and it was a way of recognizing distinguished service. However, he was not sure of the specific category.
A correspondent said there were reports that government mediators had been kidnapped in Nicaragua. Did the United Nations have a comment about the incident? Mr. Eckhard said his office had not received any information regarding the incident, but he would check.
Was there an update on the composition of the advance team of the Commission of Inquiry in charge of investigating human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said an announcement on the composition of the advance team was expected tomorrow. The announcement would also be made in Geneva.
Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 17 June 1997
A correspondent asked if Israel had reacted to the cancellation of the mission of the Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Israel and the occupied territories. Mr. Eckhard said that while there had been wire reports, he was not aware that Israel had conveyed any views to the United Nations in the past 24 hours.
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, said the General Assembly this morning approved the appointment of President Mary Robinson of Ireland as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The President of the General Assembly announced that when the effective date of the appointment had been agreed upon, the Secretary-General would inform the Assembly accordingly. Statements were made by Costa Rica and Ireland, before and after the approval of the appointment, respectively.
The Assembly also approved, without a vote, the Fifth Committee resolution on administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peace-keeping operations, relating to death and disability, Ms. Abdul-Majid said. It also approved, without a vote, a resolution on the support account for peace-keeping operations, which would provide about $32 million for the period of 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998 for the support account. The account was used for the backstopping of peace-keeping operations, including for logistics, administration and budgetary personnel functions.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said the Assembly had decided to authorize the Secretary-General to use the Special Voluntary Fund and Trust Fund to help developing and least developed countries affected by desertification and drought, as well as non-governmental organizations, to participate fully in the first Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The Assembly also decided, on the recommendation of its General Committee, to include on its agenda an item on United Nations reform, as recommended by the Secretary-General.
Asked the starting date for Ms. Robinson's appointment, Ms. Abdul-Majid said there was currently no date. When it was agreed to, it would be announced to the Assembly.
A correspondent asked for the results of the vote on Ms. Robinson's appointment. Ms. Abdul-Majid said the Assembly had not voted on that.
Asked if copies of speeches for the upcoming special session would be made available to correspondents in advance, Ms. Abdul-Majid said Missions had been asked to provide 300 copies of their statements for the media. Those copies would be made available to correspondents at the third floor documents counter, as well as at the Media Center in the basement.
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