DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF SPOKESMAN OF SECRETARY-GENERAL

(Incorporates briefing by spokesman for General Assembly President.)

Juan Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary- General, began today's noon briefing by wishing the correspondents a happy World Press Freedom Day. Although the day had actually been celebrated yesterday, the United Nations was observing it today, and he said it was fitting to issue a reminder of the need for press freedom.

Turning to the article in the New Yorker magazine that came out today on Rwanda, Mr. Brandt read a statement that was issued today in Nairobi, attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General: "Philip Gourevitch's article on Rwanda in the current issue of the New Yorker raises important questions. The failure to prevent the 1994 genocide was local, national and international, including Member States with important capability. The fundamental failure was the lack of political will, not the lack of information. No one can deny that the world failed the people of Rwanda. But the crucial issue today is not how to apportion blame with the benefit of hindsight. Rather, we should be asking how we can ensure that such a tragedy can never happen again, and how the intentional community can best assist the people and Government of Rwanda in the enormously difficult process of rebuilding a united community and healing the wounds of the past." (See Press Release SG/SM/6545.)

Copies of the statement were available, he said, and he would speak more on the issue later in the briefing when he talked about the Secretary- General's activities in Nairobi.

The Security Council was not meeting today, Mr. Brandt said. It would meet tomorrow to discuss the programme of work for the month of May. A representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs would also brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in Sudan.

The report of the Secretary-General, which the Security Council requested in its resolution 1160 (1998) relating to Kosovo, was out as a document this morning, he said. In the report, the Secretary-General noted that the United Nations was unable, within the existing budgetary resources, to establish a comprehensive regime to monitor the implementation of the arms embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which the Security Council had requested in resolution 1160. He was therefore proposing that the Council explore, with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other regional organizations, their readiness to participate in such a regime.

On the situation in Kosovo, the Secretary-General expressed his concern about the deteriorating situation and the absence of progress in negotiations

between the parties concerned, as well as the alarming reports about incidents on the border with Albania. The Secretary-General had annexed to his report information provided by the European Union, the OSCE and the Russian Federation.

Still on Kosovo, he said there was also an update press release from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Today, the UNHCR had renewed a call on European governments not to send back rejected asylum seekers from Kosovo. In a letter delivered to 15 European governments and Switzerland, the United Nations refugee agency described the political climate in Kosovo as "explosive". "Tension is running at fever pitch in many areas", said the letter. The UNHCR said the security situation in Kosovo had worsened over the past weeks with clashes spreading to new areas. It said the return of rejected asylum seekers at this time would pose security risks for those sent back and could also tip the scales towards further violence. The press release was available upstairs.

Following the suspension of the talks between rival Afghan factions, the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which co- chaired the talks, issued a joint statement in Islamabad yesterday, Mr. Brandt said. Despite the suspension of the talks, the Co-Chairmen put on record several achievements of the Steering Committee to date -- an agreement on the moratorium on new military offensives, an agreement on the modalities for the formation of the proposed Ulema Commission and an agreement in principle on the issues of establishing a ceasefire and a spontaneous release of each side's prisoners of war. The Committee was unable to agree on the blockade of Hazarajat and the opening of road communications in Afghanistan. Copies of the statement were available in the Spokesman's Office.

The United Nations humanitarian negotiating team led by Martin Griffiths had arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, early this morning, Mr. Brandt continued. They were scheduled to meet the Taliban authorities shortly. The Spokesman's Office would provide more information as soon as it was received.

The Government of Sudan announced yesterday that it had decided to allow Operation Lifeline Sudan to fly three additional Hercules C-130 and one Buffalo aircraft to deliver urgently needed relief to southern Sudan, he said. That brought the total number of aircraft to five C-130s and three Buffalos that would allow Operation Lifeline to deliver 6,000 tons of food per month. It had now become possible to reach the population of Bahr El Ghazal and other areas in southern Sudan. That would cover the food needs of more than 380,000 people in both Government- and rebel-held regions, and of an additional 410,000 people in other parts of the southern part of the country. So far, donor response to the appeal was estimated at 7.6 per cent of the total of $109.4 million urgently needed. There was an urgent need for the donor community to respond more generously to allow that new operation to work at full capacity. A press release on the Operation would be available later from the Spokesman's Office.

Daily Press Briefing - 3 - 4 May 1998

The Secretary-General began the second day of his official visit to Kenya this morning at 8, when he was received by President Daniel Arap Moi, Mr. Brandt said. After planting a tree in Uhuru Gardens, he met with Kenyan Foreign Minister Bonaya Godana. They initially met one-on-one, then with their delegations to discuss Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, the Great Lakes and Kenya's relations with the United Nations.

At mid-day, the Secretary-General was briefed on the humanitarian situation in the Sudan by Carl Tinstman, Coordinator of the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan and Michael Sackett of the World Food Programme (WFP), Mr. Brandt said. He then attended a lunch hosted by Francis Ole Kaparo, Speaker of the National Assembly, to which parliamentarians of all political parties were also invited. He compared the Assembly to a tree, which in African village life was where people gathered to decide issues of common concern.

Mr. Brandt added that the Secretary-General returned to the United Nations complex at Gigiri, where he met with external actors on Somalia, addressed the United Nations staff and gave a press conference. Back at his hotel, he met with the Foreign Minister of Sudan, with whom he discussed the negotiations on Sudan, which were under way in Nairobi today under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The Secretary-General finished the day at a dinner hosted by President Moi. The text of the speech given to the parliamentarians had been issued and was available upstairs. (See Press Release SG/SM/6546.)

Mr. Brandt drew correspondents' attention to parts of the Secretary- General's statement at the beginning of the press conference, which he read: "On Sudan, I was pleased to learn that the IGAD mediators and the parties to the conflict in southern Sudan are reconvening their talks in Nairobi during my stay here. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate my strong support for IGAD and for the peace initiative launched by President Moi. And I would also like to encourage the participants to expedite their search for a comprehensive, peaceful settlement of the conflict.

"I was briefed this morning by the managers of Operation Lifeline Sudan -- the United Nations-led consortium which is striving to avert catastrophe in southern Sudan. The needs of the people of southern Sudan are great and urgent. I am pleased to note that flight approvals given yesterday in Khartoum by the Government of Sudan will allow us to increase nearly threefold our deliveries of assistance in the coming four months. The Government of Sudan is to be congratulated for taking this important step to grant the United Nations full humanitarian access, and I will be saying so when I meet with the Foreign Minister of Sudan later this afternoon. It is essential that this access be maintained in the months to come, regardless of the outcome of the peace negotiations beginning today."

Daily Press Briefing - 4 - 4 May 1998

Mr. Brandt said that statement was available. An audiotape of the entire question-and-answer segment of that press conference had been sent to Headquarters, and it was currently being transcribed. He thanked the Verbatim Section for their work, which was being rushed so that correspondents would have the transcription as quickly as possible. He had called attention to the press conference because it contained many exchanges concerning Rwanda and the New Yorker article. Copies of the transcript would be available as soon as possible. (See Press Release SG/SM/6547.)

Mr. Brandt also told correspondents that a detailed account of the activities of the Secretary-General on Saturday and Sunday, as he concluded his visit to Ethiopia, and went on to Djibouti and Kenya, was available upstairs.

The Deputy Secretary-General had met this morning at 11 a.m. with Kan Naoto, the leader of the opposition party of Japan, and with a group of four Japanese parliamentarians, said Mr. Brandt. Then she had gone to a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jacques Santer. This afternoon, she would meet with the speaker of the Canadian Senate, Gildas Mogat, who would be accompanied by the Canadian Ambassador, Robert Fowler. The rest of her appointments had been internal.

Richard Holbrooke, the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Cyprus, and Gustave Feissel, Chief of the United Nations operation in Cyprus, this morning inaugurated an expanded and automated phone link between the northern and southern parts of the island, Mr. Brandt announced. The new phone system, which would increase the capacity from 107,000 to 750,000 phone calls a year, was financed by the United States-funded UNHCR programme. A press release on the matter was available in room S-378.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara A. Otunnu, was visiting Sri Lanka this week. During his visit, Mr. Otunnu would be assessing the progress made in the implementation of the Graca Machel report and the current situation of children affected by the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Brandt added that among the issues of concern to Mr. Otunnu would be many of those highlighted in the Machel report, such as the devastating impact of landmines and the need for systematic mine clearance and mine awareness raising programmes, the disruption of education and the deterioration of health services and food production, the use of children in hostilities as soldiers and in other supporting roles, the plight of displaced and resettled children, the psychological effects of witnessing violence and losing loved ones and the long-term psycho-social impact of protracted conflict on children and young people. Mr. Otunnu would also emphasize the need to claim children as zones of peace. More information on the issue and the programme of Mr. Otunnu was available upstairs.

Daily Press Briefing - 5 - 4 May 1998

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia inaugurated a second courtroom today, he said. The construction of that courtroom had been funded by the Government of the United Kingdom with a donation of some $500,000. A press release had been put out on this last Friday, which was still available upstairs. The press release did not contain that new information. Also available was the weekly update from the Tribunal, summarizing what had happened over the past week, and forecast what was ahead.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, was in New York for three days, said Mr. Brandt. Correspondents might have seen her as she participated in a panel discussion on World Press Freedom Day. She was having working meetings with United Nations officials and would participate in the meetings of the Executive Committees scheduled to take place this week. She would be leaving New York on Wednesday, 6 May.

A press release was available from the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva about El Nino, said Mr. Brandt. It said that although sea surface temperatures were declining, heavy rains continued to cause floods and landslides in Peru. According to the latest estimates, the phenomenon of El Nino had so far claimed 340 lives; 178 inhabitants were missing, and approximately 580,000 people had been affected by the harsh weather conditions.

This afternoon, the Committee on Information would begin its annual session, said Mr. Brandt. The new Under-Secretary-General for Information, Kensaku Hogen, would address the Committee, and then the general debate would begin. Background on the session was available in Press Release PI/1060 of 1 May, to be found on the racks.

In response to a question last week about the establishment in Bosnia of the Intermediate Media Standards and Licensing Commission, which had the aim of regulating the broadcast media in that country, Mr. Brandt referred the correspondent to Simon Haselock, Spokesman for the Office of the High Representative. The Office of the High Representative had no links to the United Nations, so that initiative, which was called for by the Peace Implementation Council last December, was a matter for them to address.

A correspondent said the question of Rwanda was again on the table. Mr. Brandt corrected him, saying the issue had been on the table since the events that took place there. The correspondent asked whether the Secretary-General would still visit Rwanda. He also asked for background on how the affair was conducted: who had received the cable, who was in charge of the Rwanda operation, and "What are you going to do about it?"

Mr. Brandt reiterated what the Secretary-General had said, that now was not the time for going back to those days to try to apportion blame or point fingers. It was time to make sure that such a tragedy never, never happened

Daily Press Briefing - 6 - 4 May 1998

again. It was important to consider also how the United Nations, as part of the international community, could help Rwanda get back on its feet.

Yes, he continued, the Secretary-General would be going to Kigali; he was expected there on Thursday. He also reminded correspondents that two years ago the Spokesman's Office had given correspondents a detailed, step-by-step chronology of the events in Rwanda. The chronology was still there, and over the past two years journalists had come to collect it; he invited the correspondent to look at it and draw his own conclusions.

A correspondent said that one could understand the Secretary-General's criticism of the media, and certainly the New Yorker article, as playing "Monday morning quarterback", regarding what happened in Rwanda; but the United Nations was also a watchdog agency. Should not the Organization have warned that there was an impending disaster in a part of the world not widely covered by the international press?

Mr. Brandt asked the correspondent whether he had seen the chronology. The correspondent said he had not, and Mr. Brandt invited him to go to the Spokesman's Office, in room 378, to look at it. That would answer some of his questions. Again, continued Mr. Brandt, the Secretary-General was saying that the collective failure was local, national and international. It was a failure of the international community. The international community had failed to act, and "we all should be ashamed of that failure to act". The failure had been due to a lack of political will. It was not a lack of information. "It was not that we didn't know what was happening, or that if we did know we failed to communicate to those that needed to know", he said. The international community had had plenty of information about the situation, and did not act.

The question was not one of chronology, said a correspondent, who said he had seen the chronology referred to by Mr. Brandt, or of collective responsibility, but a question of the moral voice of the United Nations, which had failed at a critical time. In that context, did the Secretary-General feel that there had been a particular failure on the part of the United Nations? The United Nations was a part of the international community, replied Mr. Brandt.

"But was there a failure on the part of the Secretary-General's Office at that time?" the correspondent repeated. Mr. Brandt replied that the chronology in the Spokesman's Office, which he again invited all correspondents to look at, showed that events did not stop at the initial response on the day of the 11 January 1994 cable from General Romeo Dallaire (Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda -- UNAMIR), as the New Yorker article seemed to imply. Specifically, on 3 February, UNAMIR was authorized to assist the Rwandan authorities in the recovery of illegal arms. On 21 February, UNAMIR had been authorized to redeploy troops from the Ghanaian battalion station on the border with Uganda for the purpose of that operation in Kigali.

Daily Press Briefing - 7 - 4 May 1998

Actions were taken, Mr Brandt continued. "It is not that we sat and folded our arms and waited for this to happen." The cable had come in on 11 January. The plane (carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi) crashed on 6 April. During the month of March, UNAMIR had been working out operational plans with the Rwandan authorities for the recovery of arms. The plans had been approved by United Nations Headquarters in New York on 21 March. Before those plans could be finalized, the aircraft carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi had been shot down. Obviously, the intention had been to trigger the massacres. There had not been a failure to act, to pass out information or to act on that information. It was a failure of political will.

Had there been a failure of the particular function of the Secretary- General's Office that was to act as a moral voice? a correspondent asked. Had the Secretary-General's Office failed to warn the world of an enormous disaster that was about to happen?

Mr. Brandt said the Secretary-General's statement had been very clear that everyone in the international community was guilty for that sad chapter in history. The reason for that failure to act had to be shared collectively; it was due to political will.

Looking at the chronology, a correspondent said, it seemed that although the peacekeeping department had been aware since 11 January of the threat, they only went to the Security Council about it on 30 March. Why did the Secretary-General not inform the Security Council as a whole what was going on earlier?

Everybody that needed to be informed had been informed, replied Mr. Brandt.

The President of the Security Council in January 1994, Ambassador Karel Kovanda (Czech Republic), said he had not been informed, a correspondent said. That was his prerogative, replied Mr. Brandt, adding that it was not his place to argue with the Ambassador.

Should not the whole issue be revisited? a correspondent asked. It had been revisited since it happened, said Mr. Brandt, and no doubt it would continue to be revisited in the future. The correspondent continued, saying that the New Yorker story clearly indicated that the Office of Boutros Boutros-Ghali had not been aware of the facts. Somewhere along the line, "somebody goofed". The issue would have to be revisited so that the same thing did not happen again.

It had been revisited, insisted Mr. Brandt, and would be revisited "over and over again". The correspondent asked about the response in Kigali, and Mr. Brandt referred him to the transcript of the Secretary-General's press conference in Nairobi today, which the verbatim service was currently transcribing. He had not yet had a chance to listen to that press conference.

Daily Press Briefing - 8 - 4 May 1998

Some correspondents might already have seen wire stories indicating the responses that the Secretary-General had given to questions at the press conference, he added.

The genocide had taken place while the Untied Nations was busy with its biggest peacekeeping operation ever in Bosnia, which had cost $1.5 billion a year, said a correspondent. Could the international failure to stop the genocide be attributed to the Bosnian peacekeeping operation? Responding, Mr. Brandt said that three months earlier, in Somalia, a large group of United Nations peacekeepers had been killed. Those were all factors that needed to be taken into account when looking at the situation. It was not as if the world was at peace and nothing was happening anywhere else. But "I am not saying that because of one, the other happened. The other happened because there was a lack of will, and the international community did not act the way that it was supposed to."

But if the international community had failed to act, and the United Nations said, "Oops, we dropped the ball on this one", began a correspondent, but he was interrupted by Mr. Brandt. "We are not saying that", he said, "We are saying that we had no mandate to act the way we were supposed to. We are saying that we called attention to these events, and that people that were supposed to know about these events knew, and there was no political will to act. We are not saying, 'Oops, we dropped the ball'". The responsibility had to be shared; it had been a failure at the national, international and local level.

The lack of a political mandate could have been changed by the Security Council, said a correspondent, and yet no one had gone to the Security Council until two months later. Only individual countries -- France and the United States -- had been approached, she added. Mr. Brandt replied: "We went to all the people that we needed to go to, to alert, to inform, to call attention, and the international community failed to act. "That is the bottom line."

Asked if he included the press in the international community, Mr. Brandt said he included everybody who had a role to play in calling attention to something like that. The correspondent responded that the press had not been informed by the United Nations of what was going to happen. Mr. Brandt replied that anybody who had a responsibility to call attention to the situation failed to call attention to it. It had only been after the fact, that reports had come in and the press started to cover the story.

Alex Taukatch, spokesman for the President of the General Assembly, said the Assembly President had addressed the special observance of World Press Freedom Day. He had "touched on some of the issues that were debated right here in this room", said Mr. Taukatch, drawing correspondents' attention to the Assembly President's statement, which was available in room 378.

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The General Assembly group on Security Council reform met this morning to continue its discussions, he said. It had taken up item 3 of its programme of work, expansion of the Security Council. They had put on hold for a couple of days the other item they had been discussing, decision-making in the Council, including the veto. This had been done, on the recommendation of the President, in order to give the group's Bureau time to make revisions to a conference room paper that was being discussed on the decision-making process. The group was expected to continue to discuss the decision-making process on Thursday, 7 May.

On United Nations reform matters, the spokesman said last Friday the General Assembly had been scheduled to have an informal meeting of the plenary and then to convert into a formal meeting. However, they had needed more time to discuss a draft decision on the papers submitted by the Secretary-General, and a similar scenario -- informal plenary converting to a formal plenary session -- was now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. That draft decision was document A/52/L.73/Rev 1.

As the special session of the General Assembly on illicit drugs was getting closer, he said, the Department of Public Information was trying to help the press corps to cover that important event. Leading up to the special session, the Department would be releasing a feature article each week on a main issue before the special session. This week's topic was money laundering, and a copy of the article would be available on the racks. Tackling money laundering was a top priority in the global fight against illicit drugs, said the spokesman.

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