DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

**Secretary-General in Cuba

Good afternoon. The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, and his wife, Nane, visited the Jose Martí primary school in Havana this morning. Their guide was a 10-year-old boy, who showed them around the school complex before taking them to a classroom, where the Secretary-General and his wife sat with the students during a lesson given by one of the teachers. The students also danced and sang for their visitors.

The Secretary-General then resumed his bilateral meetings with visiting dignitaries. First off was a meeting with President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, followed immediately by the Minister of Economic Development and Cooperation of Ethiopia, Girna Birru.

At 11:30 a.m. the Secretary-General met with Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara of Syria. He was then scheduled to meet Hassan Habibi, First Vice-President of Iran, followed by Abdul Ilah El-Khatib, the Foreign Minister of Jordan.

After a lunch hosted by President Fidel Castro, the Secretary-General will call on President Alpha Konaré of Mali, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Vice-President Reyes Lopez of Guatemala, and President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia.

You will recall that I told you yesterday the Secretary-General was going to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia. That meeting went ahead as planned at 3 p.m. and lasted for 30 minutes.

During this meeting the two leaders continued their efforts to narrow their differences over the Khmer Rouge trial and seek a compromise formula. They agreed that the two working groups -- that's one from the United Nations and the other from Cambodia -- will meet once again in the very near future.

The Secretary-General also met yesterday with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts on this same issue. Senator Kerry is the ranking Democratic member of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

**Security Council Notes

The Security Council this morning began a discussion of the organizational plan for the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) dealing with Iraq. Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of the Commission, presented the plan, which was issued as a document earlier this week, and is expected to answer any questions Council members might have.

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After Blix finishes his briefing to the Council, we expect to bring him to the stand-up mike outside the Security Council to take a few questions from you. We'll announce his arrival over the intercom.

And at 3 p.m., the Council will also discuss the Secretary-General's report on the United Nations Office in Angola, which recommends a six-month extension for the Office. Council members expect to receive a briefing by Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari, the Secretary-General's Adviser for Special Assignments, and they will also consider a draft resolution on the extension of the United Nations Angola Office, which they may vote on in a formal meeting following the consultations.

Tomorrow, the Council expects to hold an open briefing on Rwanda, focusing on the report prepared late last year on the United Nations actions in Rwanda by an independent three-member panel led by former Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson. The meeting will be chaired by Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy.

**Kouchner Letter on Refugee Repatriation

We will have shortly available in our office upstairs an open letter by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, on his thoughts and proposals on refugee repatriation which began over the last few weeks.

As you know, countries such as Germany and Switzerland which had accepted refugees, giving temporary asylum to people fleeing from Kosovo last year, have begun to return the Kosovars under an agreement between the United Nations and these countries.

In the letter, Kouchner will be appealing for a phased, orderly and humane return. The United Nations Mission in Kosovo -- that's UNMIK -- has concerns over absorption capacity, the capacity of the Mission to be able to absorb these people. The Mission also has concerns over the return of minorities back to the province.

For more details please look at the letter, which has just arrived in our office upstairs.

**United Nations International Staff Return to Kandahar

Yesterday, United Nations international staff returned to Kandahar, Afghanistan -- the first time that the staff has been in that city since a series of armed incursions by the Taliban prompted the withdrawal of all international staff from Kandahar on 28 March.

The return followed several meetings between United Nations and Taliban officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, and in the Afghan capital as well as in Kandahar. In the course of those meetings, Taliban officials reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate in maintaining United Nations security and to respect United Nations immunities.

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The return of the staff means that several United Nations programmes to provide humanitarian assistance to drought-stricken southern Afghanistan -- including a World Food Programme (WFP) plan to provide emergency food assistance to 200,000 people -- can be resumed.

We have a press release upstairs from the United Nations Coordinator's Office from Afghanistan, which has more details.

**Crime Congress Update

Today in Vienna, the Tenth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders concluded the review of the state of law and criminal justice worldwide. Delegates are now finalizing the draft "Single Declaration on Crime and Justice", which will be the most important document coming out of the Congress. The Declaration sets specific targets and deadlines for common action by Member States to deal with organized crime and punish criminals. The Declaration is now set to be adopted at the two-day high-level segment of the Congress, which starts tomorrow. Seventy ministers of justice and attorneys- general are expected to attend that meeting which will be chaired by the Vice-President of Colombia and also attended by the President of Tajikistan and the Prime Minister of Slovakia.

The Declaration is a step towards the adoption of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, expected to happen during the Millennium Summit this September. We have the previous version of the draft declaration available in our office. The delegates are still working on it as we speak so the new draft is not yet available.

**Mine Awareness Campaign in Sarajevo

Following the recent tragedy in Sarajevo in which three children were killed after straying into a minefield, the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) announced today that it would take measures in cooperation with the local officials to increase public awareness on the dangers of mines. In addition to this, the United Nations International Police Task Force will organize a "train the trainers" programme with the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Sarajevo police officers. This training will provide the police officers with the skills necessary to conduct mine-awareness courses at local schools as part of their community policing programme.

More details are available in the briefing note from Sarajevo, which is upstairs.

**Commission on Human Rights

And finally today the Commission on Human Rights adopted by consensus a resolution on the right to development. The text of the resolution is available in our office.

It's a slow news day, and that's all I have for you today. Can I take any questions from you?

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**Questions and Answers

Question: On Cambodia, do you know where the working group is going to be meeting?

Associate Spokesman: We won't know that until the Secretary-General returns from his trip and discusses it. But he did say that he wanted it to happen as quickly as possible.

Question: So what was under discussion between the Secretary-General and the President of Eritrea and the Minister from Ethiopia?

Associate Spokesman: I just learned of the fact that they had these meetings. I do not have a read-out yet, but we will get one from Fred Eckhard from Havana later in the day.

(The correspondent was later told that the meeting with the Eritrean President focused on prospects for a settlement in its conflict with Ethiopia and how to bring about the effective distribution of relief supplies. The meeting with the Ethiopian Minister was on the current mission of the World Food Programme’s Catherine Bertini as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Drought in the Horn of Africa and the effective distribution of relief supplies.)

Any other questions? We will let you know when Mr. Blix comes to the stake-out. Have a good afternoon. Thank you.

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