UN Secretary General, Spokesman Briefing (96-08-13)

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References to Cyprus

13 August 1996
Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

On Friday, Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph E. Connor would appear at the briefing to discuss the United Nations 1998-1999 budget. "Now who says the United Nations is five years behind getting things done! We have our 1998-1999 budget already outlined."

The Security Council today was taking up the financing of the civil administration in Eastern Slavonia, Ms. Foa said. It was also expected to be discussing the possible extension of the mandate of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES). "We're hoping for a presidential statement either today or tomorrow on those issues."

The Council was also taking up the subject of Somalia. It would be getting a briefing from Under-Secretary General Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General, on the 9 August meeting in Nairobi at which interested regional organizations undertook a coordinated assessment of the situation in Somalia.

The Council would also be taking up the subject of Afghanistan, including the 31 July letter to the Council from Uzbekistan President Islam A. Karimov, Ms. Foa continued. That letter proposed an arms embargo for Afghanistan. "That's because we don't know where all these mysterious supplies of arms are coming from. The factions are armed to the teeth. There seems to be no lack of arms and ammunition, and we're not convinced that it's all locally produced."

Mr. Gharekhan would be briefing the Council on Afghanistan and particularly on the activities of Norbert "The Dynamo" Holl, the Spokesman said. Since Mr. Holl became Head of the United Nations Special Mission for Afghanistan in mid July he has been very, very busy consulting with key Afghan political leaders, other interested parties in region, and heads of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations. He has been attempting to convey a sense of urgency to the political leaders, emphasizing the need to immediately suspend hostilities and start effective negotiations to resolve the Afghan problem. He has pointed out that there is a growing impatience in the international community. The Afghan conflict has gone on for too long; it is time to really get serious about peace. A report from the Secretary- General on the situation in Afghanistan was expected sometime in early October.

Ms. Foa noted that the total amount sought in the United Nations appeal for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan was $124 million, but to date only $45 million had come in, and the appeal would conclude at the end of September. "As you can see, Afghanistan is truly an orphan conflict since there doesn't seem to be very much interest at all in the humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan."

Things are relatively calm in Kabul, she continued. "Over the past week we only had about 13 rockets, one killed and 10 injured -- which is unfortunately a good week in Kabul."

The Spokesman said she had spoken this morning with Gustave Feissel, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus. Mr. Feissel said the report on Sunday's incident in the buffer zone was being finalized. It would be sent in a day or two. Because the Cypriot motorcycle association's demonstration was a civilian demonstration, under the rules governing the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) the peace-keepers were totally unarmed; they were not even able to carry nightsticks. They attempted to create a human barrier to prevent the bikers from entering the buffer zone. However, the hundreds of young, unruly and very, very tough bikers simply out-manoeuvred them. At one point an 80 kilometre stretch of the zone was breached simultaneously in three or four places by large groups of bikers.

Ms. Foa said the United Nations buffer zone was 180 kilometres (110 miles) long. Including civilian police, there were only about 1,200 United Nations peace-keepers in the area, and they had to monitor the zone 24 hours a day. "So you can imagine how many there were to try and stop an onslaught of hundreds and hundreds of motorcyclists." According to Mr. Feissel the worst problem was that the peace-keepers did not know where the bikers were going to try to hit. The troops became stretched too thin, and when the bikers finally showed up they completely ignored the peace-keepers.

The Deputy Special Representative told Ms. Foa that both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities were in a state of shock, in part because news of the beating and killing of the young Greek Cypriot demonstrator was played very graphically on television. Of the 12 peace-keepers who were wounded, 10 were back on duty.

The Spokesman said that one of the Zvolnik eight was released by Bosnian Serb authorities yesterday. The International Police Task Force had staff escort him to his home in Tuzla. The remaining seven were still in jail. However, they were being monitored by the International Police Task Force.

In response to a correspondent's inquiry yesterday about the situation in Burundi, the Spokesman's Office had spoken to Sheldon Yett, Department of Humanitarian Affairs information officer in that country. He said Bujumbura was very calm and there were fresh fruits and vegetables in the markets, but people were getting very worried about the petroleum supply because of its impact on everything including water purification and industry. Rationing had started at gas stations; although people were allowed 20 litres a month, they could not get it all at once. People were stocking up on food stuffs, salt in particular since its price had already tripled. Bread was getting to be very expensive. The Burundi franc had lost a good deal of its purchasing power. The Government had threatened to crack down on anyone taking advantage of the situation and engaging in speculation. Shortages of medicine were already being noticed throughout the country.

Regarding Burundi, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Yasushi Akashi and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Marrack Goulding had been in contact with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Salim A. Salim. On Saturday they sent the OAU draft guidelines for humanitarian exemptions to the economic sanctions suggesting items (such as food stuffs, medicine, tents and water buckets) that should be exempted and in what ways humanitarian goods could be gotten into Burundi when needed. "World Food Programme (WFP) food is already starting to move across the border from Tanzania. I hope it makes it."

Right now, she said, it is estimated that 700,000 people in Burundi are vulnerable. That figure included 300,000 internally displaced persons and 400,000 who had been directly affected by the conflict.

A correspondent asked why the Security Council was taking up the subject of demining. The Spokesman said it was because the subject was very near and dear to the hearts of several members of the Council. "We've made some advances in the number of countries that are working to ban the production and export of land mines", but demining operations continue to consume a great deal of peace-keeping operations' time and money.

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