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 Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.

      Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General

      Good Afternoon.

**Kosovo

The UN Mission in Kosovo is deeply concerned by the decision of the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to close the border crossings earlier today with Kosovo, in response to the fighting in the area.  The crossings were closed on 4 March and reopened yesterday for the UN Mission, the Kosovo Force and non-governmental organizations.  The border remains closed for civilians.

This has a serious effect on Kosovo.  Fuel, needed to heat hospitals, to generate electricity and to power private and commercial vehicles, is not getting into the province.  Food, drugs and other health supplies are also stuck in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports today that more than 1,000 people have been driven from their homes by clashes in the rugged mountain terrain along the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s border with Kosovo province.  A total of 890 ethnic Albanian refugees have fled FYROM’s border area to Kosovo since 15 February.  Another

300 people have fled from the mountainous border area deeper into FYROM.  Some of those arriving in Kosovo said they walked four to five hours over the mountains. Most come from Tanusevce and Malina Mala -– the two villages which have been caught up in the clashes.

Next Friday, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Kosovo, Hans Haekerrup, and the KFOR Commander, Lieutenant-General Carlo Cabigiosu, will be at United Nations Headquarters for a formal meeting on Kosovo in the Security Council.

Council members met this morning in closed consultations to be briefed, at their request, on the latest developments in Kosovo, including the Presevo Valley and the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  The briefing was conducted by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhénno.

**Secretary-General’s Trip to Pakistan

The Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan left New York this morning for London, where they will spend the night.  They will arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, tomorrow evening.

On Sunday, in addition to meetings with President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar, Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf, and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, the Secretary-General’s programme includes a series of discussions with United Nations officials who work in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Monday’s programme will be dedicated to refugees.  The Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan will fly to Peshawar, from where they will visit refugee camps in Shamshato and Jalozai.  Late in the afternoon on Monday, the Secretary-General and his delegation will fly to Kathmandu, Nepal.

We have available in our Office the programme for the visits of the Secretary-General to the four countries in South Asia which will happen in the course of next week.  That is also available on our Web site.

**Afghanistan

Still on that part of the world -- here in New York, the General Assembly today is considering a draft resolution urging the Taliban to protect Afghanistan's cultural heritage and to review their recent edict calling for the destruction of all statues.  Sue, the Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, will give you more information about that.

Still on Afghanistan, the UNHCR today voiced its concern about the deteriorating living conditions of some 80,000 Afghans who are camped out in the open in Jalozai, in north-western Pakistan.  Jalozai, as I just mentioned to you, is one of the refugee camps the Secretary-General will visit on Monday.  Jalozai has no adequate shelter, sanitary facilities or water supply, according to the UNHCR.  The agency reports that thousands of Afghan families have crossed into Pakistan since January, and it has allocated $4 million to assist the new arrivals.  The UNHCR has more information in its briefing notes today, which are available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**Angola

The UNHCR briefing notes also indicate the trip by a joint UNHCR-World Food Programme (WFP) team last week to the Democratic Republic of the Congo's southern border with Angola, which found nearly 2,000 Angolan refugees scattered near the Congolese town of Kimvula.  Some of the refugees had gunshot wounds they suffered while fleeing fighting between the Angolan Army and UNITA rebels.

Next Monday, a delegation of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Internal Displacement will begin a field visit to Angola aimed at assessing the humanitarian needs of some 1.1 million internally displaced persons, particularly with regard to women and children.  The mission will be led by the United Nations Special Coordinator on Internal Displacement, Dennis McNamara.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

Still on Africa:  the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be travelling to that country from 11 to 21 March. Roberto Garretón had recently indicated his willingness to conduct another mission and was subsequently invited to the country by the Government.

Mr. Garretón is scheduled to first travel to Kinshasa, where he will meet, among many others, President Joseph Kabila.  Following his stop in Kinshasa, the Special Rapporteur will be going to Goma and Bukavu in the east of the country to meet with the leaders of the RDC-Goma rebel movement and other local leaders.

In addition to those stops, Mr. Garretón will travel to the town of Bunia to look into the death of more than 150 civilians last January following clashes between the Hema and Lendu communities.  Bunia, as you know, is closer to the border of Uganda.

**Human Rights

We have a couple of other announcements on human rights.

First, the report by the High Commissioner, Mary Robinson, on the human rights situation in Chechnya is out today.  In the document, which will be available on the High Commissioner’s Web site shortly, she reports on the “continuing human rights violations”, as well as the criticism of the authorities’ response to those violations, which continues to give rise to serious concern.

The High Commissioner had recommended an independent, wide-ranging inquiry as the most appropriate way to address such concerns.  She also notes that a number of constructive mechanisms had been put into place by the authorities, but none had all the attributes which would normally be associated with such an independent inquiry.  In the report, she also reiterates her willingness to go to the area again, especially in the context of the establishment of an independent human rights inquiry.

Also out today is the report by Sir Nigel Rodley, the Special Rapporteur on Torture, on Azerbaijan in which he concludes that law enforcement officials in that country use torture on a “widespread” basis.

**Iraq

The mission by the group of six United Nations oil experts to Iraq, which we announced last month, has been delayed by a week.  The group is now scheduled to arrive in Iraq on 18 March.  Once there, they will be discussing with the Iraqi authorities ways to implement the “cash component” for the oil industry, as called for in the last roll-over resolution of the “oil-for-food” programme.  This delay is merely due to the fact that the Iraqi Oil Minister will be away next week to attend an OPEC meeting.

**Bosnia and Herzegovina

Today in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Jacques Klein, welcomed the announcement of the official indictment against six persons charged with organizing and carrying out the assassination of the Federation's Deputy Minister of Interior, Jozo Leutar, in March 1999.  Four of the six persons who were indicted are in custody in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while a fifth has been held in Croatia on unrelated drug trafficking charges, and a sixth is still a fugitive from justice.

       Mr. Klein stressed that the investigations into the Leutar assassination -- and the subsequent obstruction of justice -- are continuing, and further indictments cannot be ruled out.  A press release is available in our Office on that matter.

**UN Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention

Pino Arlacchi, Head of the United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention, met this morning in Rabat with Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, and the two agreed on a tripartite joint venture between the donor community, the Moroccan Government and the United Nations system to reduce the cultivation of cannabis.  The joint venture would also include an alternative development programme for the northern provinces of Morocco.  The meeting followed other meetings Mr. Arlacchi held yesterday with the foreign and interior ministers, as well as the director of Morocco's anti-drug unit.

**United Nations Development Programme

Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be in Spain on Monday, where he will meet with a number of senior officials to raise awareness of UNDP’s work.

Later in the week, he will travel to Bergen, Norway, where, on 15 March, he will participate in an international conference entitled "Poverty Reduction Strategies:  What have we learned?".  The following day, he will go to Naples, Italy, to take part in a high-level panel on government strategies at the Third Global Forum on Reinventing Government.

**Member Dues

The Republic of the Congo (or Congo-Brazzaville) paid $57,000 today to become the fifty-seventh Member State to have paid its regular budget dues in full for the current year.  The Holy See, which has observer status at the United Nations, also paid its contribution in full for 2001, with a payment of just over $2,500.

**Press Releases and Announcements

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it will begin this weekend to distribute emergency food to some 60,000 people who have been stranded by torrential flooding in Malawi.  The WFP estimates that four districts in central and southern Malawi have been hit hardest by the floods, caused by abnormally heavy rains that have hit several southern African countries in recent weeks.  A press release from the WFP is available with more details.

We also have a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).  Experts attending a three-day meeting on forest fire management and control, which has been going on this week at the Rome headquarters of the FAO, are examining the outline of a possible international plan of action on forest fires.  The FAO has put out a release with more information.

I have a reminder here from the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA).  The UNCA is hosting a press conference at 3:30 p.m. today in the UNCA Club with Peter Bridgewater of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to discuss the International Conference on Biodiversity and Society.  That conference will take place from 22 to 25 May at Columbia University.

I will not go into details, but want to remind you that we have available the “Week Ahead” paper that we prepare every Friday.  It is available in our Office upstairs.

Any questions before we move to Sue?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Is there a meeting scheduled in Pakistan between the Secretary-General and the Taliban Minister for Foreign Affairs?

Deputy Spokesman:  I cannot confirm that as of now.

Any other questions?  Thank you.  Sue?

Spokeswoman of the President of the General Assembly

      Thank you.

As you know, the President of the General Assembly, Harri Holkeri, has been away from New York for the past week or so.  He came back yesterday, just in time to participate in the observance of the International Women’s Day.  Of course, you have a copy of his statement, I’m sure.

As Manoel mentioned, this morning the General Assembly discussed the destruction of relics and monuments in Afghanistan, and a resolution was adopted which asked the Taliban to take immediate action to prevent the further destruction of these irreplaceable relics, monuments or artifacts of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.  The resolution also calls upon Member States to help safeguard the sculptures, including, if necessary, by their temporary relocation or removal from public view.

During the discussion -– I think there were some 18 speakers this morning -- Japan requested that the resolution be conveyed immediately to the Taliban.  The President of the General Assembly will, today, send the resolution plus all the statements to the Secretariat, asking that it be forwarded.

Later today, the President of the General Assembly will hold his regular monthly luncheon meeting with the President of the Security Council, currently the Ambassador of Ukraine.  On the agenda for discussion will be reform of the Security Council and related issues.  The Security Council President is also expected to brief the President of the General Assembly on current issues before the Council and its work programme.

Also later today, the President of the General Assembly will meet with the Ambassadors of the “Permanent Five” to discuss next week’s meetings of the Working Group on Security Council reform.  The Working Group will meet each day next week -- at least it is scheduled to.  The first two days, it will meet to discuss

so-called Cluster I issues, which relate to the use of the veto and the expansion of the number of permanent and non-permanent members.  On Wednesday and Thursday, they will discuss Cluster II issues, which relate to organizational aspects.  The

bureau of the Working Group is issuing conference room papers relating to these issues to be discussed.  I understand the first one is now available.  The first item to be discussed on Monday, I believe, will be the use of the veto.

On Wednesday next week, in the morning, we expect the plenary to meet to elect members of the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.  That is the only meeting scheduled, as of now, for next week.

And that is all I have.  Thank you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you have any sense that there is the slightest progress at all in resolving the Security Council reform?

Spokeswoman:  I was told not to expect a big bang, but we might have a little movement.  At least, the discussion would be useful.  I won’t know any more until next week.  I don’t think that there are great expectations that a great breakthrough will be made, but we are always hopeful.

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