DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

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

Good afternoon to you all, and a Happy New Year, since this is my first day back. 

**Secretary-General's Upcoming Travel

First off, an announcement for an upcoming trip for the Secretary-General.  On 17 January, the Secretary-General will arrive in Yaounde, Cameroon, to attend the annual France-Africa Summit, which is being held there this year.  The Secretary-General is expected to deliver an address during the opening session.  This Summit, as you may know, is held every two years, alternating between a location in France and one in Africa.  Since 1996, these summits have been open to all African countries.  The Secretary-General is expected to leave Cameroon on the evening of 18 January. 

**Security Council

In terms of the Security Council, today the new President of the Security Council -- as you know, this month Singapore presides over the Council -- will hold bilateral meetings today with members of the Council.  Tomorrow, the Council is expected to hold informal consultations on its programme of work for the upcoming month. 

**Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

A note here from the UNHCR.  The new High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, was welcomed today by the staff of the UNHCR in Geneva upon his arrival at the agency's headquarters.  In his first briefing, he paid homage to his predecessor, Sadako Ogata, and said the agency must continue to live up to the proud legacy of serving refugees.  In referring to the dependence on donor funding, he said, "the cause of refugees deserves financial resources", and added that the agency should demonstrate "the minimum of bureaucracy and a maximum of flexibility".

We have the full briefing notes from the UNHCR available upstairs in our Office.

**East Timor

A few notes from East Timor.  Following several attacks in recent days on a mosque housing hundreds of Muslim refugees in Dili in East Timor, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) today condemned these acts of inter-communal violence as unacceptable and said it would take a firm attitude in responding to such acts.

The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in East Timor, Jean-Christian Cady, visited the Dili mosque today to learn firsthand about the situation being faced by the more than 200 Muslims who are living in the compound.  He assured the Muslims living there that adequate protection would be provided by the United Nations.

Gangs of youths threw stones at the mosque twice in recent days -- just a few hours after New Year's Day, and again yesterday.  United Nations police have helped to disperse these gangs.

We have the full briefing notes upstairs also available in the Office.

**Sierra Leone

From Sierra Leone today, the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission, General Daniel Opande, is to meet in Magburaka with the interim leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Issa Sesay.

The Force Commander's discussions are to deal with the United Nations Mission's freedom of movement, efforts to monitor the ceasefire and a follow-up to the Abuja agreement, by which the RUF pledged to halt its fighting and return stolen weapons and equipment to the United Nations Mission.

In general, conditions in Sierra Leone are reported as calm, although the Mission notes unconfirmed reports indicating shelling in recent days along the Guinea-Sierra Leone border area.

**Security Council Sanctions Committee

On the racks today, you can find the latest report by the Chairman of the Security Council Sanctions Committee dealing with Sierra Leone -- Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh is the author of the report.  In the report, he goes over the Committee's work over the past year.

**Kosovo

From Kosovo, tomorrow the current Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Bernard Kouchner, will meet with his successor, Hans Haekkerup, who is scheduled to take up his post on 15 January.  Mr. Haekkerup will be holding two days of internal briefings in Kosovo before returning to take up his duties, as I mentioned, in the middle of next month.

**Iraq

And lastly, a note from the Office of the Iraq Programme.  You know, we had no update last week.  So this covers the period from 16 to 29 December, during which Iraq exported 12.9 million barrels of oil under the “oil-for-food” programme, 7.2 million barrels during the week of 16 to 22 December, and

5.7 million barrels from 23 to 29 December.

The Office of the Iraq Programme reports six loadings at the Mina al-Bakr and one at Ceyhan, which was on 29 December.  Since the start of phase IX on

6 December, Iraqi oil exports have earned an estimated $302 million in revenue.

The United Nations oil overseers and the Security Council’s 661 Sanctions Committee for Iraq during the same period approved four new contracts for the purchase of Iraqi oil.  And with the exception of the price of Kirkuk crude destined for the European market, all prices for the purchase of Iraqi crude oil for the month of January have now been approved by the Committee.

And we have a lot more detail from the Office of the Iraq Programme in their report upstairs. 

That's it for me.  Any questions from the assembled crowd?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Is the Secretary-General at all concerned about fears of depleted uranium -- these fears in Italy and elsewhere -- that soldiers may have been contaminated?

Associate Spokesman:  There is a task force, I believe, headed up by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which has gone down to the Balkans, and which is scheduled to report next month on the issue of depleted uranium.  So when I go back upstairs, I'll check if there is anything we can report before the issuance of the report, and I'll let you know.

Question:  But the Secretary-General isn't involved, concerned?

Associate Spokesman:  He's following the UNEP efforts.

That's it?  Thank you.

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