DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
19970717
(Incorporates Briefing by UNICEF)
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, began today's noon briefing by announcing that the Secretary-General had addressed the staff this morning on his reform proposals. He quoted an excerpt from that address:
"Let me say at the outset: reform is not their cause, it is our cause. We who strive everyday to honour our calling and improve our service want, more than anyone else, to enhance our effectiveness and unleash our potential. It is not their reform, it is our reform."
Mr. Eckhard then introduced the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ibrahim Jabr, as an official who would give an example of the process of putting the Secretary-General's reform proposals into action. Mr. Jabr had been asked to join the Spokesman in the briefing today to illustrate the unified peace- building approach in the Great Lakes region.
The Secretary-General had decided to try a new unified, holistic, approach for peace-building and development at the country level in that region and had set up a task force to coordinate the United Nations contributions there, he said. The task force, chaired by the Administrator of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth, brought together the various elements of the United Nations system in cooperation with the World Bank. Comprising the conveners of the Executive Committees on Development, Humanitarian Assistance and Peace and Security, it was working on the full range of potential cooperation between the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Nations, including such areas as relief, reconstruction, capacity-building and political questions.
The Security Council was today reviewing a report by the Secretary- General on Burundi (document S/1997/547) and was being briefed by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall, Mr. Eckhard said. Citing the report, he said the Secretary-General was encouraged by the new willingness shown by President Buyoya and his Government to cooperate with a variety of international actors in order to help find solutions to Burundi's persistent problems, as well as by the gradual rapprochement between the President, the Government and the National Assembly. Should those positive trends continue, Burundi would be able to establish the conditions necessary for the further easing of sanctions.
Regarding the setting up of a tribunal, the Secretary-General stated that President Buyoya had publicly called for the establishment of an international criminal tribunal for Burundi, in order to try the instigators and perpetrators of acts of genocide that followed the October 1993 coup. Responding to a recent letter to him from the Government of Burundi on the
creation of an international tribunal, the Secretary-General had said that, given the circumstances prevailing in Burundi, he was not in a position to recommend to the Security Council the establishment of such a tribunal at present. It was his intention to remain seized of the matter, however, and to review the question at a later date.
Mr. Eckhard said the Council was also considering the situation in Liberia, where national elections would take place on Saturday, 19 July. Liberians would elect a President, Vice-President and 90 members of a bicameral legislature. As of today, the deployment of all electoral materials in Monrovia and in all the county seats had been accomplished. The ongoing deployment of the 200 United Nations electoral observers was scheduled to be completed today.
According to the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), there were approximately 730,000 registered potential voters in the country, Mr. Eckhard said. The official figures were expected to be completed later today. The Mission was satisfied that it had facilitated the registration of the vast majority of the estimated number of Liberians eligible to vote -- between 650,000 and 850,000 voters, according to the demographic experts. A background release on the elections was available in the Spokesman's office.
Mr. Eckhard then announced that Romania had become the seventy-seventh Member State to pay its contribution to the 1997 regular budget, with a check for $1.598 million.
Mr. Jabr said the Democratic Republic of the Congo was going into a new, promising, phase. It had suffered, not only from the recent refugee problems, but also from a chronic emergency spanning the past 32 years. The country needed a Marshall Plan for reconstruction, all the elements towards that end were very positive.
There would now be an attempt to begin implementing the Secretary- General's new reform proposals for the United Nations in that country, Mr. Jabr said. The Secretary-General would send a team to discuss with the Government the preparation of a strategic framework for the next two years of transition, after which elections were expected to be held. That framework would be a partnership that would include the entire United Nations family, as well as the country's civil society. Without the social services provided by that sector, the former Zaire would have been in a much worse state than it was at present.
The next two or three months would be historic, Mr. Jabr said. He was very hopeful that the high-level mission to Kinshasa would be successful, help the Government sharpen its vision and its priorities, and inject enough confidence in the new situation so that international assistance to the country would be enhanced.
Daily Press and UNICEF Briefings - 3 - 17 July 1997
A correspondent asked Mr. Jabr if his reference to civil society meant NGOs, both international and local. Also, what was the World Bank's role in the strategic framework? Mr. Jabr said that for every international NGO there were about 20 to 30 local organizations. The country was well-known for its high number of NGOs. The UNICEF had helped prepare a directory of local NGOs, some of which were very active, while others were dormant. The UNICEF had contracts with many of the active local groups, which had done an excellent job and should be encouraged.
The World Bank had sent a joint mission, with the African Development Bank, to Kinshasa about three weeks ago, Mr. Jabr said. That high-level delegation had made contacts with all the senior members of the new Administration in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including the President. The Bank was expected to be involved in development of the strategic framework or to join the process later on.
Was the World Bank's involvement part of the United Nations effort to incorporate it more directly in the framing of solutions in developing countries? a correspondent asked. Did it indicate a closer relationship between the Bank and the United Nations? Mr. Jabr said the new reform proposals gave the Bank a much better opportunity to work within the United Nations family. They also gave that opportunity to the specialized agencies. The solution for developing countries did not lay in grants. It was important to consider various sources of funding, while looking at the bigger picture.
Mr. Eckhard said that the Secretary-General wanted the World Bank to work more closely with the rest of the United Nations system, and had been discussing that with its President, James Wolfensohn, as well as with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Michel Camdesssus, since his first trip to Washington in January. The Secretary-General had met with each of them separately and then together. It was one of his priorities to draw the lending institutions more closely into the planning and execution of a unified United Nations development plan in the field.
Asked for an approximate number of NGOs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Jabr said the law in the former Zaire had allowed any four persons to get together to establish an NGO. That gave an indication of how many were there. Some were credible, while others were not. Some had a proven capacity to work, and UNICEF would like to strengthen their functioning.
Was the number in the range of 30 to 40? a correspondent asked. Yes, roughly, he replied.
Daily Press and UNICEF Briefings - 4 - 17 July 1997
Asked to define the strategic framework, Mr. Jabr said that, previously, each agency had looked at a country's problems "through its own glasses". Now, however, a new synergism among the agencies would be vital to address the situation. For example, the UNICEF would not be able to address all the problems of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, not even all the problems of its women and children. If the system looked at the bigger picture, in terms both of needs and opportunities, and organized itself as a team to meet those needs, the Organization had a better chance of being more effective. That approach would also enhance bilateral arrangements.
A correspondent asked if a document on the approach to be taken was available. Mr. Jabr said the team would launch the process. The agencies would then prepare a document which would be announced by the Government.
Was it realistic to expect the World Bank to be drawn into the process or to be merged with the activities of the other organizations in the system? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eckhard said the issue was not of merging the organizations but of working more closely together. The United Nations would like to tap the Bank's resources, but it would also like the Bank to participate in the planning processes. The Secretary-General wanted all the relevant United Nations bodies to work together and to work with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to develop the strategic framework. There would thus be one master plan, and every element of the United Nations would know what its place was in the plan and each would complement the other. It was a slow process, but it had to begin at some point. The Secretary-General had begun through his personal relations with the heads of the IMF and of the World Bank.
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