UN Secretary General, Spokesman Briefing (96-08-12)
12 August 1996
Press Briefing
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
"I've been waiting all week to use this line", Sylvana Foa, the
Spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, said at the
opening of today's noon briefing. "The Secretary-General is out of the
woods." He was back at Headquarters, receiving the credentials of two
new Permanent Representatives: Paul Bamela Engo of Cameroon and
Alfredo Lopes Cabral of Guinea-Bissau. Later today he would be meeting
with Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of the Kingdom of
Nepal; the Secretary-General would also hold a luncheon in the Crown
Prince's honour.
Yesterday, the Spokesman said, a demonstration by a Cypriot motorcycle
association in Cyprus turned violent when the demonstrators entered
the United Nations buffer zone and confronted Turkish troops and
Turkish Cypriot counter- demonstrators on the Turkish forces'
cease-fire line. The Government had persuaded the demonstrators to
desist from their original plan to break through the cease-fire lines
en masse. However, the Cyprus police acted slowly when groups of
demonstrators breached the United Nations buffer zone in several
places.
At the same time, Ms. Foa continued, the Turkish forces allowed
Turkish Cypriot civilians armed with sticks and pipes to enter a
military zone where access is normally restricted and to pass through
into the United Nations buffer zone where they clashed with the
demonstrators. Despite the efforts of the United Nations Peace-keeping
Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) to control the situation in the buffer zone,
an estimated 70 civilians from both sides were injured and one Greek
Cypriot demonstrator was beaten so severely that he died of his
injuries. At great personal risk, two Irish United Nations civilian
police came to his aid; unfortunately, they were too late. Twelve
United Nations personnel also sustained injuries. (Two of them were
Irish Civilian Police, one was from the Hungarian contingent and nine
were from the Austrian contingent.) UNFICYP is pursuing its
investigations of the various clashes that took place.
The Spokesman said it is not the task of the United Nations to control
demonstrations. The Organization's limited resources were stretched to
the fullest, trying to control the fast-moving disparate groups of
demonstrators on both sides. Some of the demonstrators were armed, and
groups entered the buffer zone simultaneously in several areas. It was
the responsibility of the authorities on the island to control
demonstrations. Needless to say, it would have been better to prevent
this kind of event, which does nothing to further efforts to find a
durable solution to the Cyprus problem.
"They're very angry about this upstairs in Peace-keeping", Ms. Foa
added.
The Secretary-General's report on the establishment of a human rights
office in Abkhazia, Georgia, was expected to be issued tomorrow. The
Security Council was expected to take up the report on Thursday, 15
August. The Council's resolution 1065 (1996) of 12 July reaffirmed the
necessity for the parties to the Georgian Abkhaz conflict to strictly
respect human rights and expressed the Council's support for the
Secretary-General's efforts to find ways to improve their observance
as an integral part of the efforts to reach a comprehensive political
settlement. In his report to the Council, the Secretary-General
envisages that the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Jose Ayala
Lasso, would deploy one professional officer to Abkhazia, with the
understanding that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) would also deploy one qualified person. For reasons of
efficiency and security, the human rights office would be located
together with the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG)
office in Sukhumi. The Secretary-General's report also sets out the
modalities of the proposed human rights programme, as well as options
for its financing.
No Security Council meeting was planned for today. Tomorrow, the
Council was expected to hold informal consultations on the situation
in Afghanistan. Those consultations would be preceded by a briefing
from Under- Secretary-General Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, Senior Advisor to
the Secretary- General, on the current efforts of the new Head of the
United Nations Special Mission for Afghanistan, Norbert Holl -- "who
seems to be a very fast-moving guy", the Spokesman said.
The report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on the
situation in Burundi was being finalized, Ms. Foa continued. The
Security Council was expected to continue informal consultations on a
possible draft resolution based on a Chilean proposal currently being
considered by the Non- Aligned Movement caucus. There were currently
151 United Nations staff inside Burundi at the moment. The
Organization was considering relocating about 35 of them. At the
moment the situation was reported calm in Bujumbura and throughout the
country.
The latest update of who owes what to the United Nations was available
in the Spokesman's Office, she said. As of 31 July, outstanding
assessed contributions totalled $3 billion: $800 for regular budget,
$2.2 billion for peace-keeping. An additional $24 million was owed to
the international tribunals.
The United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) was very
happy to be undertaking a new operation, which was a little more fun
than their regular mine-clearance work, the Spokesman said. The
Mission and the World Health Organization (WHO) had kicked off a
campaign to vaccinate all Angolan children against polio. The campaign
was inaugurated in downtown Luanda by Angolan President Jose Eduardo
dos Santos. UNAVEM was giving WHO and the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) helicopter, fuel, land transportation and communications
support. Within the next few days, United Nations soldiers would
themselves be vaccinating Angolan children throughout the country. The
goal was to rid all of Angola of polio by the year 2000. It was part
of a global strategy to eradicate the disease.
Asked if there was information on shortages in Burundi, the Spokesman
said that to date there was not anything new.
Asked when the United Nations might decide to relocate the 35 staff in
Burundi, she said, "It depends on les evenements". For the moment no
one was going anywhere.
A correspondent asked for further information on the Solomon Islands,
following up on reports that the Secretary-General had received a June
letter from Prime Minister Solomon S. Mamaloni requesting assistance
with respect to problems that had arisen between his country and Papua
New Guinea. Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General Ahmad Fawzi
recalled that on 1 July the Secretary-General had responded to Prime
Minister Mamaloni, stating he would study the matter and conduct talks
with the parties. The Department of Political Affairs had done so and
was now in the process of analyzing the information it had received
and preparing a substantial response.
Asked if the incidents in the buffer zone would be a setback to the
peace process in Cyprus, the Spokesman said people were concerned,
"but sometimes a tragedy like this can bring people quickly to their
senses and they might just now sit down and start these talks".
Asked to say more about the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations'
anger about the incidents, Ms. Foa said, "When you have people
storming into the buffer zone -- despite pleas from the Government and
the Secretary- General, despite everybody knowing that such an action
could lead to tragedy - -and these guys go into that buffer zone and
go after each other with rocks and sticks and God only knows what
else: this is not on."
Asked for a reaction to the United States Republican Party's platform,
which mentions the United Nations, the Spokesman said, "They didn't
send me a copy." She would look into the matter.
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