S/PV.3322 Security Council

On behalf of the members of the Security Council I should like to express profound sorrow at the passing of the President of the Republic of C&e dgIvoire; His Excellency Mr. Felix Houphou&t-Boigny. President Houphou&t-Boigny, the great African patriot, served his country for several generations with singular dedication. He will long be remembered as an advocate of dialogue and non-violence in the settlement of disputes. His loss will be greatly felt, but the lessons of his wisdom will remain with us. The international community also mourns the loss of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, His Excellency Mr. Jozsef Antall. Prime Minister Antall was an enlightened leader of his people and was deeply committed to the democratic development of his country. He will be greatly missed in Europe, in particular. I request the representative of Hungary and the Permanent Representative of C&e d'Ivoire to the United Nations to convey to the Governments and peoples of their respective countries and to the bereaved families the Council's profound condolences. I now invite the members of the Council to rise and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of those eminent leaders of their peoples. The members of the Council observed a minute of silence.

I now call upon the representative of Hungary. Mr. ERD6S (Hungary) (interpretation from French): Mr. President, since it is still my privilege to be a member of the Council I should like to express to you my delegation's very sincere appreciation for your tribute. Mr. Jozsef Antall was the first Hungarian Head of Government to be democratically elected, following the very long absence of democracy in my country. We wish to thank you, Sir, and all the members of the Security Council, for the condolences you have conveyed to us on the passing of the Hungarian Prime Minister. You may be sure that I shall transmit your condolences to my Government and to the bereaved family and that we will remain faithful to the memory of Prime Minister Antall. EXPRESSION OF THANKS TO THE RETIRING PRESIDENT

As this is. 'the first meeting of the Security Council for the month of December, I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute, on behalf of the Council, to His Excellency Mr. Jo& Luis Jesus, Permanent Representative of Cape Verde to the United Nations, for his service as President of the Security Council for the month of November. I am sure I speak for all members of the Security Council in expressing deep appreciation to Ambassador Jesus for the great diplomatic skill and unfailing courtesy with which he conducted the Council's business last month. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The aaenda was adopted. THE SITUATION IN CYPRUS REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL IN CONNECTION WITH THE SECURITY COUNCIL'S COMPREHENSIVE REASSESSMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS OPERATION IN CYPRUS (S/26777 and Add.1)

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them the report of the Secretary-General in connection with the Security Councilts comprehensive reassessment of the United Nations Operation in Cyprus, documents S/26777 and Add.1. Members of the Council also have before them document S/26873, which contains the text of a draft resolution prepared in the course of the Council's prior consultations. I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to the following revision to be made to the draft resolution contained in document S/26873 in its provisional form. Operative paragraph 11 of the draft resolution should read as follows: "Further welcomes the declared support of the Government of Turkey for the package of confidence-building measures, would also welcome a statement of support for that package by the Government of Greece and expresses the hope that rapid progress will now be made on achieving agreement on the package". 1 should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to the following other documents: S/26642, letter dated 26 October 1993 from the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General; S/26720 and S/26832, letters dated 9 and 30 November 1993 respectively, from the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General; and S/26833, letter dated 3 December 1993 from the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the President, of the security COUl‘lCil- It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. Unless I hear any objection, I shall put the draft resolution, as orally revised in its provisional form, to the vote now. There being no objection, it is so decided. & vote was taken bv show of hands, favour: Brazil, Cape Verde, China, Djibouti, Franye, Hungary, Japan, Morocco, New Zealant, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Spain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Unlted States of America, Venezuela * The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Chinese): There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution, as orally revised in its provisional form, has been adopted unanimously as resolution 889 (1993). I shall now call on those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting. . TAYLHARDAT (Venezuela) (interpretation from Spanish): Permit me first, Sir, to say how pleased we are to see you presiding over our work and to congratulate you on the effectiveness and competence with which you have been conducting our proceedings. I should also like to assure you of my delegation's cooperation in contributing to the success of your presidency. I also take this opportunity to convey our gratitude and appreciation to Ambassador Jose Luis Jesus of Cape Verde for his conduct of our proceedings during November, It should be recalled that in resolution 831 (1993) the Security Council decided to conduct a comprehensive reassessment of the United'Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) this December, at the time when it would consider extending the Force's mandate. This reassessment, in accordance with the resolution, Was also to consider the implications for the Force's future of progress on confidence-building measures and towards a political settlement. In the same resolution the Council requested the Secretary-General to submit a report covering all aspects of the situation. In the 1,etter which, as President of the Council during September, I addressed to the Secretary-General on 20 September, I said that the members of the Council were awaiting the report requested in resolution 831 (1993), and that on the basis of that report they intended to carry out a thorough analysis of the situation and, if necessary, to consider other possible measures for implementing the resolutions on Cyprus, It should also be recalled that on 14 September this year the General Assembly adopted resolution. 47/236, on the financing of UNFICYP. We have read with interest the Secretary-General's report (S/26777), and we thank him for the complete and useful information it provides on the activities of the United Nations operation in Cyprus. We attach particular importance to the following statement by the Secretary-General in paragraph 101 of his report: "While UNFICYP has successfully kept the peace, the resulting opportunity has not been used properly by the two sides to reach an overall agreement. It is often asked whether UNFICYP is not part of the problem in Cyprus, rather than part of the solution. The ancillary question is how long UNFICYP will remain on the island." "We also agree with the Secretary-General that in weighing these questions .the Council might take into account, inter alia, the following considerations: first, that each side has its own ' Perspective on the future of UNFICYP; secondly, that were UNFICYP to be withdrawn, the present buffer zone would be a vacuum that each side would want to fill; and, thirdly, that a negotiated settlement, mutually acceptable to the two communities in Cyprus, is needed and that there is every justification for demanding that all the parties involved work more effectively for a negotiated settlement, in return for the great efforts of the international community. .The draft resolution that we have just adopted includes the recommendation of the Secretary-General in paragraph 108 of his report, extending once more'the presence of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus for a further period of six months, until 15 June 1994. considers that, as the Secretary-General states, extension of the mandate of UNPICYP is justified in the present circumstances. Nevertheless, we believe this decision is intimately linked with the Security Councilrs appeal in paragraph 7 of the resolution to the leaders of the two Cypriot communities to promote tolerance and reconciliation between the two communities, as the Secretary- General recommends in paragraph 102 of his report. We also consider that the decision to prolong the mandate of UNFICYP is closely linked with the stipulations of paragraph 12 and 13 of the resolution, in which the Security Council requests the Secretary-General to submit at the end of February a new report on the results of his efforts to achieve an agreement on a package of confidence-building measures, and in which it decides to carry out, on the basis of that report, a thorough study of the situation, including the question of the future role of the United Nations and, if necessary, to consider alternative ways of promoting the implementation in Cyprus of its resolutions. We believe that at that time the Council should consider, as it has done in other cases, the future renewal of the mandate of UNFICYP in the light of real progress achieved towards the definitive solution of the conflict. Similarly, at that time the Council should not limit itself, as it has done today, to prolonging the mandate of TJNFICYP; it should, rather, Carry Out a thorough evaluation of that mandate. The governing mandate of UNFICYP was originally established in 1964 in extremely vague and general terms. With the passage of time it has been assigned additional functions that have led the Force to carry out tasks tht in many cases would not Seem appropriate for a United Nations Peace mission. In recent months we have heard the justified statements by some countries to the effect that when new.peace missions are approved or existing ones are prolonged, their mandates should be very clearly defined and the pertinent resolutions should contain provisions aimed at establishing or defining their duration or the time when they will be ended. We believe that in the case of UNFICYP these considerations are also pertinent and that there is a need for the concerned parties to step up their efforts to create the conditions necessary for that operation, which is now approaching the thirtieth year of its existence, to come to an end within a more or less foreseeable time. This need is made even more patent by the General Assembly's decision, in resolution 47/236, that beginning on 16 June 1993 the costs of the Force not covered by voluntary contributions should be treated as expenses of the Organization to be borne by Member States in accordance with Article 17 of the Charter.

I thank the representative of Venezuela for his kind words addressed to me and to my predecessor. There are no further names inscribed on the list of speakers. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda. The meetina rose at 12.40 p.m.