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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General:

Good afternoon.  I’ll be joined shortlyby Carolyn McAskie, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator ad interim.  She will be here to talk to you about her recent visit to Mongolia.

** Security Council

Today, Chinese communities worldwide are celebrating the New Year and the first day of the Year of the Snake.  This is said to be a year for reflection, planning and searching for answers.  The Security Council, therefore, has no meetings scheduled for today.  Tomorrow, there will be a public meeting at which the Chairman of the Sierra Leone sanctions committee, Ambassador Chowdhury of Bangladesh, will brief the Council on the report of the panel dealing with sanctions violations, including the question of conflict diamonds.

** SG Ends Programme in Japan

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today ended the official part of his visit to Japan.  He met first this morning with Sadako Ogata, the former High Commissioner for Refugees, with whom he discussed the establishment of a commission, which Ogata will co-chair with Indian Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, to identify threats to “human security”.  We’ll try to get you more details on that later.

The Secretary-General then met with 29 Ambassadors of the African Group in Japan and discussed United Nations and Security Council reform with them as well as the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the strengthening of the United Nations-Japan partnership.

He then opened the so-called “UN House”.  As you know, a major emphasis that he’s had in his tenure here is that all United Nations agencies in the field should share common premises to cut costs and increase effectiveness.  And so there’s now a “UN House” in Tokyo.  He toured a Humanitarian Emergencies exhibition in that building and met with United Nations staff there.  He then attended a luncheon hosted by the Rector of United Nations University, which is based in Tokyo.  The Rector is Hans van Ginkel.

In the afternoon, he visited the head office of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, NHK, and then held a news conference at the National Press Club.  At the press conference, he said he was “heartened to see the commitment by Japan to continue playing its leadership role” and stressed the importance of Japan’s development assistance to countries in need of help.  We have the full transcript of his remarks in my office.

He later held a meeting with Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, and then met with five goodwill ambassadors and the father of a United Nations staff member killed while serving in the United Nations mission in Cambodia, who has been named United Nations Volunteers Honored Ambassador.

He finished his programme in the evening with a private dinner hosted by Ambassador Yukio Satoh.

Tomorrow, he’ll be flying to Zurich en route to Davos, where he’ll attend the World Economic Forum over the weekend.

** Kosovo

The Secretary-General's Special Representative in Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, today urged the authorities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to return all Kosovo prisoners detained in Serbia without delay.  He hoped that a proposed amnesty that may be considered by the new Yugoslav Parliament would be adopted soon.

He added, "Those prisoners who would not fall within the scope of the amnesty law should be returned to Kosovo and will have their cases proceed through a judicial review in Kosovo conducted under the supervision of the United Nations Mission (UNMIK)".  That review, he added, would be held according to international human rights and judicial standards.

We have a press release that includes his statement, as well as today's briefing notes from Pristina, in my Office.

** Del Ponte Visit

The Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, is on the second day of her three-day visit to Belgrade, which she began yesterday with a one-hour meeting with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.

Today, she will be meeting with senior officials of both the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia, including Serbian Premier-designate Zoran Djindjic, and she expects to press her case for the need to hand over indicted suspects to the Tribunal.

This morning, she also met with the Association of Families of Missing and Kidnapped Persons for Kosovo and Krajina, which has tried to draw attention to the fate of missing Serbs.  The group said it was willing to cooperate with the Tribunal and to provide evidence and testimony for its ongoing investigations.

Tomorrow, Del Ponte will hold a press conference in Belgrade at which she expects to speak at length about the Kostunica meeting and other subjects.  Until then, she has no comment on that meeting.

** Dakar Conference

Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary-General of the upcoming World Conference against racism, met today in Dakar, Senegal with representatives of African non-governmental organizations to discuss ongoing cooperation on the preparations leading to the Conference.  The meeting took place in the margins of the African regional preparatory conference to the World Conference that is winding up its work later today.

Yesterday, Mrs. Robinson, along with delegates present at the conference, visited Gorée, the historical island from which, during three centuries, hundreds of thousands of black slaves were boarded and shipped to the Americas. During her stay in Dakar, Mrs. Robinson also met with President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, as well as other Government officials.  We will have more information for you later today on the substance of the conference’s last day.

** Budget

On budget dues:  Today, Bahamas, New Zealand and the Russian Federation joined the ranks of countries to be paid in full and on time for their regular budget contributions for this year.  Bahamas paid more than $124,000, New Zealand more than $2.5 million and the Russian Federation more than

$12.4 million.  We now have 29 Member States fully paid up.  And, as of yesterday, I think, we were one ahead of where we were on that day –- yesterday -- a year ago.

** Press Conference This Afternoon

I mentioned to you yesterday, but I’ll say it again today. Mia Farrow, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Special Representative, will be here at 1 p.m. to talk about her recent visit to Nigeria, where she helped launch a country-wide polio vaccination campaign.  And, she will be joined at that press conference by Kul Gautam, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director.

** Press Conference Tomorrow

And then a press conference tomorrow:  The Foreign Minister of Liberia, Monie Captan, will hold a press conference here.  We will make an announcement over the p.a. system on the specific time.

** UNCA Announcement

The Correspondents Association has asked me to announce that there will be a reception tomorrow at the UNCA Club, hosted by Ambassador Mohamed Sacirbey of Bosnia and Herzegovina at 3 p.m. honouring UNESCO artist Sashia Toperich, who is a pianist.  And he will perform at a concert tomorrow at Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium at 1 p.m.  Okay.  So, you’re all invited.  3 p.m. reception.

That’s all I have for you.  Carol, welcome.  Come up.  We’ll see if we have any questions before we continue.  A very quiet news day.  I have no control over that, I’m sorry.  

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