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. The guest at today's briefing will be Soren Jessen-Petersen, the Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees. He'll be talking about the refugee situation in West Africa on the eve of High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers', visit to the region as well as the Security Council meeting coming up on Monday with the Foreign Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

**Secretary-General Pays Tribute to Fallen Humanitarian Staff

This morning, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, the Secretary-General paid tribute to the four United Nations personnel who died in a helicopter crash while carrying out a humanitarian assessment mission in northern Mongolia last month.

The Secretary-General said that the four -- Sabine Metzner-Strack and Gerald Le Claire of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Matthew Girvin of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Batchuluuny Bayaramaa of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- had made "the supreme sacrifice".

He said they had given "life to the words 'humanitarian imperative' -- and in doing so, gave their own lives. In our memory, they will live on."

We have his comments available upstairs.

The gathering then observed a minute of silence for those who died in the crash.

**Secretary-General ‘Deeply Concerned’ over Humanitarian Situation

  in Afghanistan

We have the following statement attributable to the spokesman on Afghanistan:

The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned over the rapidly worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, following reports from the Humanitarian Coordinator, Erick de Mul, who returned yesterday from a visit to Kandahar and Herat, along with members of the Afghanistan Support Group. The Secretary-General has therefore requested the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima, to travel to Afghanistan next week to assess the current humanitarian situation on the ground and to mobilize an effective international response.

The Secretary-General reiterates the appeal of the United Nations on

11 January to meet the urgent needs of the Afghan people, including shelter. He thanks all donors who have responded to this emergency appeal. He requests that the international community now come forward to meet the requirements set out in the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for 2001 for Afghanistan, which requests

$229 million, but has received less than $14 million in contributions thus far. The Secretary-General notes that an immediate and generous response to the Appeal will help forestall a major humanitarian crisis. 

**UNHCR Update on Afghan Refugees

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says there is an urgent need for camp sites for Afghan refugees escaping war and drought in Pakistan.

UNHCR’s remarks were made as part of a special inter-agency briefing on Afghanistan/Pakistan in Geneva during which the United Nations flagged the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

UNHCR also urged the European Union to keep the asylum door open.

There are press releases on these two subjects upstairs and, of course you can also ask Soren any questions on those matters.

**Security Council Considers Nominations for ICTY Judgeships

The Security Council is in closed consultations today to consider the nominations of permanent judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The Council, under the Statute of the International Tribunal, is to establish a list of between 28 and 42 candidates, and to transmit that list to the General Assembly, which is then to choose from the pool of nominees the 14 judges that are to serve on the Tribunal. The judges serve for four-year terms, and are eligible for re-election.

The consultations just ended and the Council will now go into a formal meeting to adopt a resolution forwarding a list of nominees to the General Assembly for consideration.

The Secretary-General, in a letter to the President of the Council dated

1 February, communicated to the Council 26 nominations for permanent judges that had been transmitted by Member States -- a number which, he noted, was below the minimum number of 28 specified in the Statute.

We have copies of his letter to the Council, in English and French, in my office and the list of 26 nominees is included.

**Gambari Wraps Three-day Meeting with British Government, Business

  Officials in London 

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, is winding up a three-day visit to London, where he has had discussions with British Government officials and businesses. Today he met with officials from DeBeers and several oil companies, Chevron, Shell International and British Petroleum, on ways to advance peace efforts to end the civil war in Angola.

For your background, you may be interested in a statement Mr. Gambari delivered on Africa and the United Nations yesterday, which is available in my office.

**Budget Update

Burkina Faso became the forty-third Member State to be paid in full for the 2001 regular budget. That was with a check for just over $20,000.

**New Global WHO Facility Will Train Specialists in Epidemic Control

The World Health Organization (WHO) today opened a new office in Lyon, France, to train specialists from all over the world in the control of epidemics. The office will set up a network of national laboratories in developing countries and train technicians in the diagnosis of the main types of epidemic diseases including cholera, yellow fever and hepatitis, and emerging diseases such as Ebola.

There's more information in the press release.

**UNEP Press Releases Available

We also have a number of press releases from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Globalization and UNEP's new Web site.

**Treaty Signings

This is concerning signings today: This morning, Cyprus signed two treaties, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, which now has 71 signatories, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which now has 64 signatories.

And just a short while ago, Argentina became the twenty-eighth signatory to deposit Instruments of Ratification for the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

**Secretary-General Designates New Messenger of Peace

One last item for this morning. Tomorrow, former top-ranked tennis player Vijay Amritraj, will accept from the Secretary-General a lapel pin in the shape of a dove, distinguishing him as Kofi Annan's eighth Messenger of Peace.

Mr. Amritraj is a committed advocate for people in need. He will devote his time as Messenger of Peace to raising awareness about the consequences of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.

The presentation will take place at 3:30 p.m., tomorrow. Anyone who wishes to cover it should contact Sonia Lecca. If you have interest in the other Messengers of Peace, you can check our Web site.

That's all I have for you. Are there any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Does Mr. Gambari's meeting with business heads in London signal a recognition of the political role of business and corporations in peace negotiations? If not, what would you consider the role of the corporate community to be?

Spokesman: Well, as you know, the Security Council has been looking at the role of businesses in conflict. I don't know that you can say that businesses are playing a direct political role, but their role in conflict areas does have an impact on the political process in those areas. So, I think you should see

Mr. Gambari's initiative in that context: he is discussing with business leaders ways in which they might support the peace process.  

Question: The situation in Zimbabwe seems to be deteriorating: the Chief judge of the Supreme Court was recently forced to resign and there's been a crack-down on the press, among other things. What's the Secretary-General's response to these events?

Spokesman: I discussed this situation with him just this morning. He indicated to me that he's following these recent developments, including the ones you just mentioned, with much concern. Of course, he remains in close touch with President Mugabe on matters of common interest, both in Zimbabwe itself and in the region as a whole. The Secretary-General has asked me to tell you that he appeals to both the Government and the opposition to resolve their differences peacefully, through the democratic process and in accordance with the constitution.

Question: Can you give us the Organization's reaction to the vote in the United States Senate yesterday to release funds for payment of that country's arrears? What about the balance?

Spokesman: I think it was with a great sigh of relief that we saw the Senate approve the release of almost $600 million of the Helms-Biden appropriation. I also understand that the House of Representatives has to approve that legislation. Of course, we owe all of that money and more to Governments that have contributed troops and equipment to peacekeeping. So when it does come in, it will go out very quickly.

As for the remaining amount -- I think there's still about half a billion dollars in contested arrears -- we will continue to talk to the United States Government about how it will be paid. It doesn't appear to be just around the corner. As you know, the Helms-Biden legislation did not cover the contested arrears of about $500 million.

Question: Was there a read-out on the reaction of the business leaders in London to Mr. Gambari's request for some assistance in Angola?

Spokesman: We didn't get a read-out, but we did send him an e-mail asking if he would talk to the press as soon as he got back. We thought his mission was kind of interesting, so we'll let you know. I don't know exactly when he's coming back but I'm sure he'll be willing to talk to you.

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