PRESS BRIEFING BY UN TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR EASTERN SLAVONIA, BARANJA, WESTERN SIRMIUM

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UN TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR EASTERN SLAVONIA, BARANJA, WESTERN SIRMIUM

At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, William Walker, United Nations Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, told correspondents that the work of his mission would be completed when its mandate expired on 15 January 1998. He said significant progress had been made within the last 60 days, and that the Croatian Government had made efforts to promote national reconciliation.

He said the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) had submitted a report on its work to the Secretary-General last Friday, which was its contribution to the Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on the situation in eastern Croatia. There would be a meeting of the Security Council on the issue at a date that was still to be decided. That would probably be the last discussion in the Security Council on UNTAES, as its mandate would expire in January.

About two months ago, he said, he had submitted a report to the Secretary-General which stated that things were still uncertain. The UNTAES did not then recommend a further drawdown in its components and asked the Security Council not to consider that report as a final one. The UNTAES had asked that the Government of Croatia be given another 60 days to "pull up its socks."

The most recent UNTAES report states that the Government of Croatia had done just that, he said. On 20 November the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Croatia, Mate Granic, had sent a letter to the Secretary-General inviting the United Nations to leave in place a post-UNTAES civilian police monitoring presence. When UNTAES ended its mandate in January, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would monitor not only the UNTAES region, but all of Croatia, to make sure it lived up to its obligations.

The fact that President Franjo Tudjman had asked that the United Nations retain a United Nations post-UNTAES civilian police monitoring function was a positive step, because the OSCE was not certain that it had enough people or enough experience to monitor the local police. The objectives of the UNTAES mandate, which was established approximately two years ago, included bringing peace and security to the region, demilitarizing the region and trying to promote reconciliation between Croats and Serbs. He thought that the mandate had, for the most part, been fulfilled.

He said there were some things that UNTAES was able to do itself and some that could be done by UNTAES in cooperation with the Governments of Croatia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. However, there were other

things that could only be done by the Government of Croatia once full sovereignty over Eastern Slavonia was assumed. The tasks that UNTAES could take on by itself were complete: the region was for the most part demilitarized.

That was what he thought would be reported to the Security Council by the Secretary-General, he said. From there, it would be up to the Security Council to act. The UNTAES was already in the phase of drawing down. Within the last two months the two remaining military components -- a Russian battalion and a Belgian battalion -- had both been pulled out, so there were no longer any UNTAES combat troops in the region. The UNTAES still had about 700 military personnel in the area, but they were there specifically to guard the facilities and the logistical withdrawal of the mission. The civilian components were also drawing down in anticipation of the end of the mandate.

A correspondent asked precisely what Mr. Walker was recommending -- how many police and human rights monitors should stay after 15 January. She said she assumed he was recommending that the region revert to Croatia. The Administrator replied that the basic responsibility of UNTAES was to assure the peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia into the rest of Croatia. He thought that could be accomplished with the end of the mandate on or about 15 January.

Who was he recommending should stay? the correspondent asked. The Government of Croatia had invited the United Nations to remain in the form of a special police monitoring unit, he replied. They had asked for approximately 180 police monitors for a period not to exceed nine months, to ensure that when UNTAES left they would not be blamed if anything untoward were to happen. While that was not anticipated, it just wanted to have the assurance of the United Nations presence for a little longer.

Was that what he was recommending? the correspondent asked. Yes, he said, adding that until recently the Government was adamant that the United Nations presence in Croatia would end with the expiration of the UNTAES mandate. However, it had now voluntarily invited the United Nations to leave those civilian police monitors in place.

Asked about other international agencies, he said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would continue to help with refugee return, which was still a major issue. There would be many other observers, and the OSCE would be there with up to 250 personnel. There would be a serious international presence.

On the question of human rights, he said that the issue was being discussed. There was a relatively small human rights monitoring unit under UNTAES auspices which came out of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. The High Commissioner was

UNTAES Briefing - 3 - 24 November 1997

looking into the question of what should remain. The OSCE would also be carrying out human rights monitoring, and there were a number of international non-governmental organizations that would also look at the issue.

A correspondent asked the Administrator to elaborate on the motivation of the Croatian Government in insisting that the United Nations police personnel stay. He said it had not insisted, but had invited the United Nations to continue on. He would only know the ultimate intention of the Government towards the minority ethnic groups in its population after it assumed full responsibility for Eastern Slavonia. The United Nations presence would be nowhere near the massive presence of UNTAES: at the height of the mission, there was one UNTAES person in Eastern Slavonia for every 20 inhabitants.

What was the situation in the media? Had there been any softening in the rhetoric of the official Croatian media? a correspondent asked. The last time he was in New York, the Administrator said, he had criticized the media for continuing to show presentations that were not helpful to a reconciliation policy. However, there had been a considerable softening. A national reconciliation commission had been formed about two months ago. It had been very active and had solicited the media to soften or eliminate their harsh, backward-looking coverage. In the last 60 days, the Government had done quite a bit to promote national reconciliation, from the President on down.

A correspondent asked what the official UNTAES figures were on the number of Serbs still living in eastern Slavonia. The numbers were imprecise, he said. Access to the region was very open, and despite the fact that UNTAES had tried to keep tabs on how many people were coming in and going out, how many were leaving permanently and how many were going to neighbouring countries just for the day, the figures remained very loose. There were "a hundred and some thousand".

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