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:

      **Security Council

Good morning.  Starting off with the Security Council today.  They are meeting today for the first meeting under the new presidency of Singapore.  The Council is currently meeting in closed consultations to discuss its programme of work for the month, as well as the election of the chairmen or chairwomen of the 10 sanctions committees that come under the Security Council.

**Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, we have some news from the Mission there.  As we reported yesterday, the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission, Lieutenant General Daniel Opande, met in Magburaka yesterday afternoon with the interim leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Issa Sesay.  At the meeting, General Opande underlined to Sesay the importance of last November's Abuja ceasefire agreement and urged the RUF to implement that agreement fully and return weapons that it had taken from United Nations peacekeepers.

Sesay told the United Nations Force Commander of the RUF's commitment to the ceasefire agreement, and invited the United Nations to deploy its troops and observers in the north-western district of Kambia.  He also promised that the rebels would open access over the next few days to several major roads within Sierra Leone.

The two also agreed in principle to establish contact groups of senior United Nations and RUF officials to facilitate the implementation of the Abuja agreement.  The United Nations Mission is also sending teams of military observers to verify that the RUF is opening access to major roads in Sierra Leone.

In a related item, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that it yesterday flew 13 emergency staff to the Kissidougou area in southern Guinea, where thousands of refugees affected by instability at Guinea's borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia require assistance. 

There's a full press release from the UNHCR available upstairs in our Office.

**Secretary-General's Year-end Letter

The Secretary-General, in a year-end letter delivered to the whole United Nations staff, congratulated the personnel of the Organization for their work last year and, in particular, their efforts to ensure the success of the Millennium Summit.  In wishing the staff a happy New Year, he also voiced the hope that 2001 would be "a year of decisive action" in helping people around the world to feel a difference in their daily lives.

In the letter, copies of which are available upstairs, the Secretary-General says, "It was a difficult year, with many new challenges, pressures and crises.  Once again we had to mourn colleagues killed in the field."

The Secretary-General noted the need to provide staff with better protection, and he called the General Assembly's recent decision to allocate additional resources for staff security as "an important step in the right direction."

**Prevlaka Report

Available today on the racks is the Secretary-General's latest report to the Security Council on the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP), detailing events in the Prevlaka peninsula and the neighbouring areas in Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since last October.

In it, the Secretary-General says that the situation in the demilitarized zone remains calm and stable, and he notes that recent developments in the region, particularly in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, have given rise to "the hope that a climate conducive to the resumption of negotiations is being created".  The United Nations Mission, he adds, is ready to assist in the development of practical arrangements to help any agreements that the parties may reach.

The Secretary-General also recommends that the Mission, whose current mandate expires on 15 January, be extended for another six months, through

15 July.

**Payments

A quick budget item.  Two more countries made full payments to the regular budget today.  Azerbaijan made a payment of over $41,000 and Ukraine just over $548,000, bringing to six the total number of Member States who have paid their 2001 dues in full.

**Canada and United Nations to Sign Memorandum of Understanding

  on Standby Arrangements

A couple of events coming up in the next few days.  Tomorrow, Canada and the United Nations will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Standby Arrangements relating to peacekeeping.  The United Nations Standby Arrangements System was inaugurated in 1994, and 89 countries have so far joined the system.  Canada will become the thirty-fourth participant to sign such a Memorandum.

**Inauguration of New UNOPS Headquarters

And if you're interested, all correspondents are invited to attend the inauguration of the new headquarters of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) on the fourth and fifth floors of the Chrysler Building on

8 January.  The Secretary-General will attend the event, which begins at 10 a.m.  Created six years ago, UNOPS is the only income-earning body of the United Nations and provides project management services to other United Nations agencies, international institutions and governments.

We have more information upstairs available in the Office.

**Preparatory Committee on Small Arms

The first meeting, also on Monday, of the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects will be held at the United Nations Headquarters on Monday at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 2.

**Ethiopia-Eritrea

We've got some information just in from the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).  Members of the United Nations Mission and the Eritrean Commission for Cooperation with the Peacekeeping Mission (CCPM) met today in Asmara to discuss issues related to the presence and role of Eritrean militia within the future Temporary Security Zone (TSZ). 

This afternoon's meeting was the occasion for an initial exchange of views regarding the nature of the national militia and police in the TSZ -- a 25-kilometre-wide stretch to be created between repositioned Ethiopian and Eritrean forces and monitored by the United Nations.

And, fortunately for you, that's all I have.  Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  There's a letter on the racks from the representative of Cyprus about the arrest of a group of Cypriots by the Turkish Cypriot authorities.  Has this affected scheduling of the proximity talks?  What is the latest on the proximity talks? 

Associate Spokesman:  We do expect the proximity talks to take place in the early part of this year.  No schedule has yet been decided upon by the Secretary-General.  As for the event, I'll look into it and let you know.

Question:  In Iraq, there've been reports of questions about the President's health status or his television broadcast, parade, some interruptions, anything? 

Associate Spokesman: No. 

Correspondent:  You sure?

Associate Spokesman:  I'm sure.  I'm sure. 

Question:  Nothing on whether the meeting that Iraqi officials --

Associate Spokesman:  There's nothing more, unfortunately, than what we said in the past few days on that.

Question:  Any other travel details after the departure on the eighteenth regarding Asia?  Will he be back or will he be away for three weeks, four weeks?

Associate Spokesman:  It will be about three weeks, and I expect to announce the next trip hopefully early next week.

Question:  He leaves the sixteenth?

Associate Spokesman:  He leaves on the fifteenth, on Monday.

Question:  Any information concerning the fact-finding mission on the problem with the Israelis and Palestinians?

Associate Spokesman:  The Mitchel Commission?

Correspondent:  Yes.

Associate Spokesman:  No.  We haven't gotten any information back from them, but I will check on that and get back to you today.

Question:  Is the Secretary-General receiving any visitors that you can reveal at the residence in the last week?

Associate Spokesman:  No visitors that I know of, but I know he's been working the phones on Middle East issues.

Question:  To Arafat at all?

Associate Spokesman:  He's been speaking to all the major players, and I'd hope to get a more detailed list to you, but I know he's been on the phone from the residence.

That's it?  Thank you.

* *** *