PRESS BRIEFING BY CHIEF OF MISSION OF UNPREDEP IN FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY CHIEF OF MISSION OF UNPREDEP IN FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Chief of Mission of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP), Henryk Sokalski, updated correspondents on the work of UNPREDEP in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He began, however, by expressing sadness at the recent death of William Otis, an Associated Press correspondent to the United Nations for 30 years. He praised Mr. Otis as a friend, "a fine man, and a great professional and journalist".

Mr. Sokalski said UNPREDEP was a small mission of 1,050 troops -- 500 Nordic, 500 American, and 50 Indonesian troops -- as well as an engineering platoon and a civilian component, which together represented 50 nations. It was a unique operation: the first and, to date, only engaged in preventive action. It undertook "early preventive action", to prevent the development of conflict into war. The UNPREDEP had succeeded in its mission for nearly five years; 11 December would mark the fifth anniversary of the Security Council's decision to establish a United Nations presence in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Within the past year, UNPREDEP had developed into a comprehensive operation, he continued. It had taken into account the lessons and experiences of other United Nations operations, as well as the unique nature of preventive action at large. As the first such preventive operation by the United Nations, "we can afford a little bit of imaginative thinking, by putting out all kinds of ideas", he said, adding that the mission called itself "a laboratory in preventive action, but a laboratory that is not experimenting". It benefited from experience in the field, and followed closely developments in the theoretical fields of preventive diplomacy and preventive action. It was particularly satisfying that UNPREDEP's achievements had found "fine reflection in the guidance and thinking" of the Secretary-General in his latest report on the work of the Organization.

The circumstances in which UNPREDEP operated had changed in recent years, he said. Domestically, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had made great strides in developing democratic processes. It had matured and become a fully-fledged partner in the international community, with peaceful foreign policy and relations with other States emerging worldwide. The country had active aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union. In addition, it was already an active member of European structures such as the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Partnership for Peace programme. Those efforts contributed importantly to UNPREDEP's capacity to fulfil its mandates.

UNPREDEP Briefing - 2 - 18 September 1997

The above circumstances also enabled the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to become a "strong factor of peace and security in the entire region", Mr. Sokalski said. In that vein, "we can also say without bragging but stating a fact that "the United Nation's presence in that country had also become an important security factor in the region. The UNPREDEP did not perform any combat tasks; rather, it provided a psychological and visible deterrent on behalf of the Organization. To date, UNPREDEP had solved the problems it had faced in an expected fashion. In doing so, it had to be aided significantly by the international community and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Developments last spring in Albania had demonstrated the capabilities of a preventive force in a neighbouring country, he said. In response to those developments, UNPREDEP had to redeploy some of its tasks from the northern border of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to its western border with Albania. That proved to be an effective operation which enabled UNPREDEP to prevent a number of clashes which otherwise would probably have occurred. Such clashes would not necessarily have involved the armies of the respective countries, but, more unpredictably, armed groups of Albanians which had long been active in the region. Developments concerning those groups were ongoing, and were being monitored and reported on by UNPREDEP.

The mission operated on the basis of "three active pillars", he said. Those were troop deployment, good offices and political action, and a human dimension. The latter essentially meant peace-building in post-conflict operations. The UNPREDEP believed strongly that no peacekeeping operation existed which would not have to undertake a small measure of peace-building, as a means to build confidence between the authorities of the host country and the operation, as well as between the operation and the country's population. In that regard, UNPREDEP had been able to develop an active political dialogue with local forces in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, all relevant political parties, and the authorities of the host country.

"All in all, we believe that this has been a successful operation", Mr. Sokalski said. He recalled that Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, had said that such success could be a "curse", but to date UNPREDEP had kept its "flag high". The UNPREDEP hoped for continued success until the Security Council took relevant decisions on its future. It was also hoped that such Council action would enable UNPREDEP one day to conclude the first United Nations operation in preventive peacekeeping on a successful note, and as such would be treated as a future model for such operations.

The success of UNPREDEP, however, had not been "properly utilized in building up the image of the United Nations", he said. It would be to the benefit of public information and the United Nations if the work of UNPREDEP could be shown to the wider world. Particularly, the reasons and methodology for UNPREDEP's success could be disseminated.

Asked by a correspondent to characterize UNPREDEP's current involvement in Kosovo and the western part of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

UNPREDEP Briefing - 3 - 18 September 1997

Mr. Sokalski said developments in Kosovo were not within the mandate of UNPREDEP. Matters concerning Kosovo were handled internally by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The UNPREDEP was attentive to the border between that part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which contained Kosovo, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

On that matter, UNPREDEP was interested in improving aspects of inter- ethnic relations in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, he continued. That had been a question on the mind of many international relations. Great progress had been made in following inter-ethnic relations in the host country, by the government and political forces. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was a member of several human rights instruments which required regular reporting by members, including the OSCE. The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Max van der Stoel, visited the host country frequently to discuss those issues within the binding recommendations of OSCE. The UNPREDEP had developed an active and productive dialogue with both host country authorities and ethnic Albanian parties. Compared to the situation which existed several years ago, it must be concluded that "progress was in the making".

Ad hoc developments of an intricate political nature should not, in his view, serve as a general reflection of the situation at large, he added. Relations between the host country and Albania were a "delicate question", because the ethnic population in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was in the "immediate neighbourhood" of its border with Albania. In such situations, close attention was called for, so as not to allow a situation in which such closeness of groups would be utilized for purposes which might undermine peace and stability in the host country. So far, both the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and UNPREDEP had been successful in paying such attention.

Asked if he personally advocated the extension of UNPREDEP's mandate, Mr. Sokalski said he could not reveal his personal thinking because it was his job to be guided by official and political circumstances. Nonetheless, he personally believed that it would be a mistake if the international community decided to withdraw the operation at the present juncture. In explanation, he said that as much as the major causes which had brought about the establishment of a United Nations presence in the host country had been "toned down" -- some of them considerably -- none of them had disappeared completely. In such a region, it was difficult to predict future developments, particularly given the present situation. As long as those causes still existed to some extent, the international community must be careful not to allow them to be compounded. A number of factors mitigated against abrupt action.

* *** *