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

This is a near-verbatim transcript of the today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Secretary-General Opens Arab Summit

The violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories and the situation in Iraq were the dominant themes in the Secretary-General's statement at the opening this morning of the Arab League summit in Amman, Jordan.

The Secretary-General underscored the devastating effect of closures on every aspect of Palestinian life.  "Collective punishment", he said, "has cast a pall of anger and despair over the already tense occupied territories."

With two bombings taking place in Jerusalem this morning, the Secretary-General's next comment had added weight.  "Israelis, too", he said, "have seen high hopes turn to fear."

The international community had a right to criticize Israel's "excessively harsh response" to the Palestinian uprising, he said, "but these points could be made more effectively if many Israelis did not believe that their existence was under threat".

"Israel has a right", he emphasized, "enshrined in numerous United Nations resolutions, to exist in safety within internationally recognized borders."

On Iraq, the Secretary-General regretted that the Iraqi people continued to suffer under sanctions and said that he hoped those sanctions could be lifted sooner rather than later.  But, he added, the Iraqi leadership "will achieve more through cooperation with the international community, including its neighbours, than through confrontation".

The full text of the Secretary-General's speech is available in my Office.

Before giving that address this morning, the Secretary-General met with the President of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, with whom he discussed demining efforts in the southern part of that country and pledged to support the reconstruction effort in the south.

He then met with the Iraqi delegation, including Vice-Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council Izzat Ibrahim, Vice-Premier Tariq Aziz, and Foreign Minister Mohamed Said el-Sahaf.  The Secretary-General told the press afterwards that they had reviewed the issue of sanctions against Iraq.  He also said he would continue his efforts to break the impasse between Iraq and the Security Council, and that his next round of talks with the Iraqis would likely take place in New York in May.

Just before giving his speech, the Secretary-General met for about

20 minutes with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, with whom he shared concern about the violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

He will shortly meet the President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after which he is scheduled to talk with the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.  [The meeting with the President of Tunisia did not take place.]

The Secretary-General leaves Jordan tomorrow morning for Switzerland.

**Somalia

This morning in Somalia, there was an attack on the compound of Médecins sans frontières (MSF) in Mogadishu, during which a number of United Nations and MSF staff members were detained by militia.

Six United Nations international staff -- three from the United Kingdom, one from the United States, one from [France] and one from Belgium -- are currently missing and believed to be abducted, along with a Somali national who was working with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The United Nations staff members were participating in a programme designed to immunize Somali children against polio.  They are believed to have been unharmed in the attack.

The United Nations is continuing to monitor the situation.  And for now, we cannot provide the names of the United Nations staff members.

**Day of Solidarity

Today is the International Day of Solidarity with Detained United Nations Staff Members, which marks the fifteenth anniversary of the abduction in Beirut of Alec Collett, then a staff member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Secretary-General marked the occasion with a statement in which he took note of today's abduction in Somalia and said, "The disappearance of a loved one is devastating to a family who, in addition to the pain of absence, must cope with the pain of uncertainty."

He added, "Today, my thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Alec Collett and those of all other detained or missing staff."  He also repeated his call to Member States to do all they can to ensure a safe environment for United Nations staff.

We have copies of his message in my Office.

Also today at 1:15 p.m., a panel discussion will begin in Conference Room 7 to deal with the issue of detained, arrested, abducted or missing United Nations staff.  The event is organized by the Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service and the United Nations Staff Union.

**Security Council

The Security Council's consultations on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, went on into the early hours of this morning, and are still continuing today.

Yesterday, the Council met periodically in consultations, and Council members also gathered in smaller groups to discuss the draft resolution, in discussions that lasted until after 2 o’clock this morning.

The Council then briefly resumed its consultations this morning on the draft resolution before adjourning its consultations on the Middle East until 12:30 p.m. today.  The Council is expected to vote on the resolution once its consultations are concluded.

Today at 4 p.m., the Council will hold consultations on Sierra Leone, with Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi to brief the Council on the Secretary-General's latest report on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.

In that report, the Secretary-General asked for a six-month extension of the Mission and noted that, with more troops expected to join the Mission in the coming months, the Council might consider raising the troop ceiling from the present level of 13,000 military personnel to 17,500, as an interim step.

Because of today's busy schedule, the Council's open briefing on East Timor, which had been scheduled for today, has been postponed until further notice.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that a staff member was shot and killed today in a western town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Jose Djamba, a driver in the UNHCR office in Kimpese, was killed late Tuesday morning.

The High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, said, "We are shocked by the cold-blooded murder of yet another innocent humanitarian worker."

We have further details on the killing in a note from the UNHCR.

Also today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first contingent of United Nations troops arrived in Goma on its way to Kalemie, where a United Nations Sector Headquarters will be based.  United Nations Force Commander General Mountaga Diallo welcomed the troops, who are from Uruguay and are the first of a number of guard units that is eventually to total some 2,000 troops.

There is a press statement from the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo available upstairs, and we also have the highlights of a briefing given today in Geneva by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for that country, Kamel Morjane.

**Iraq

The weekly update of the Office of the Iraq Programme is available upstairs.

Although lower than last week’s record for this phase, the week’s exports were higher than they were at the beginning of the current phase, which started on 6 December 2000.

In the week ending 23 March, 16 million barrels of oil were lifted through 12 loadings, at an average of 2.28 million barrels a day.  Of the total loadings, eight were at Ceyhan and four at Mina al-Bakr terminals.  The week’s oil exports raised an estimated 347 million euros in revenue at current prices.

The total value of contracts placed on hold by the 661 Committee continued to increase in real terms, although it remained relatively constant at 17 per cent of the value of all contracts circulated to the Committee.  The weekly update also notes that the prices approved by the Committee for the purchase of Iraq oil during the month of April are now in place. 

**Hunger in Great Lakes Region

The World Food Programme (WFP) has repeated its appeal for $95 million to continue providing food aid to hundreds of thousands of refugees, displaced and drought-affected people in the Great Lakes region.  The agency will soon face a break in food supplies to the region as its operations are underfunded by more than 100,000 tons of food.  In addition, during the next few months, it will need to feed nearly twice the number of people it currently feeds, with the numbers jumping to 2.1 million from about 1.2 million, mainly due to the severe drought in Burundi.  A break in food supplies could cause widespread hunger.

The current operation ends in July and, in anticipation of the continued needs of the region, the WFP has approved an 18-month extension to run from

August 2001 to January 2003, which will require 298,000 tons of food at a value of $167 million.  So far, no donations have been made to this appeal.

**Kosovo

In Pristina today, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, denied a report in this week's Economist that Kosovo-wide elections would only be held in 2002, and not in this year.

Mr. Haekkerup said the report is "simply not true", and added that, although the timing of a vote depends on finalizing a legal framework for Kosovo, he intends to have elections in Kosovo this year.

**Global Compact

Out today at the document counter on the third floor is a United Nations News Service release on a major oil industry-labour accord based on the guiding principles of the Global Compact initiative launched by the Secretary-General.

The agreement was signed by Statoil, a Norwegian-based multinational company, and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union.  As a result, 16,000 oil workers in 23 countries, in the developing, as well as the industrialized, world, are now covered by an agreement that holds their employer to a commitment to promote human rights and environmental and labour standards in their respective communities.  It also guarantees respect for workers’ labour rights and for their health and safety on the job.

Commenting on that agreement, Assistant Secretary-General John Ruggie said that it was “a very exciting development, which shows how the [Global] Compact brings together multinational businesses and global labour, as well as civil society organizations, to seek ways to ameliorate the harsh effects of globalization and to expand its benefits”.

**Press Releases

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, will this afternoon address a three-day conference in Geneva on sexual violence against refugees.  The conference is the largest recent gathering of experts on sexual violence and violence against refugees, especially women and girls, and has been a major issue in many parts of the world.

Also in Geneva, the Commission on Human Rights continues its fifty-seventh session today with discussions on the right to development and a continuation of deliberations on racism and racial discrimination.  If you're interested in more on that, see the press release upstairs.

**Memorial Service for John Mills

A memorial service will be held for John Mills at the United Nations Church Centre Chapel this coming Friday, 30 March, between 1 and 3 p.m.

John, who passed away on 1 February, was the Spokesman for the Office of the Iraq Programme.  Before that, he held a number of United Nations positions.  The most recent were Spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and interim Deputy Spokesman in my Office.

For more details on this memorial service, you can contact Stephani Scheer at the Office of the Iraqi Programme on extension 6550, or you can check the invitation, a copy of which is available in my Office.

**UNCA Announcement

Finally, the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) asked me to announce that the International Action Network on Small Arms will be at the UNCA Club at 4 p.m. today, to discuss "The Small Arms Conference:  Are We Getting Anywhere?"  You're all invited to attend.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The UNHCR staff member that was killed today -- do we have a nationality?

Spokesman:  No, I don't, and I don't want to guess.  The operations are near the Angolan border.  I'm not sure of the pronunciation of Jose.  I suspect an Angolan nationality, but I honestly don’t know.  We'll have to check.

[The Spokesman's Office later announced that the UNHCR staff member was from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.]

Question:  Regarding the Day of Solidarity and particularly the case of Alec Collett, what is the United Nations doing besides offering prayer?  His family has been waiting to know what is going on for a number of years.  The Secretary-General is in Beirut, he's in Jordan and he's in contact with President Mubarak.  After 15 years, we still don't know what is going on.

Spokesman:  Clearly, if we could reproduce Alec and get him freed, we would do so.  The strong suspicion, I think, on the part of everyone, or many people in the Secretariat, as well as his family, is that he is dead.  There was a film shown that was not conclusive -- he was not conclusively identified -- but there was a film released by his captors. 

The issue of staff safety generally has picked up a lot of steam and has gotten a lot of attention from the General Assembly.  The Secretary-General is pressing for about $35 million to upgrade our security apparatus here at Headquarters.  He did not get that money from the last General Assembly.  He's going back to try to get it from the next one.  So, I think you can see increased effort by the Secretary-General, increased interest by the Assembly and, we hope, eventually, there will be increased resources.

Question:  On the agreement stated with Statoil -- the Global Compact -- who monitors those agreements?

Spokesman:  These are self-monitoring, in the style of the Global Compact, so that the company puts on the Web site what it commits to do.  The workers and the non-governmental organizations can interact with the company on the Web site, saying, we have evidence that you're not living up to your commitment in this and this case.  The company can then reply.  So, it's a kind of interactive way for the company, the workers and non-governmental organizations to see that these standards are maintained and that the pledges are kept.

Question:  Anyone can access that Web site?

Spokesman:  You could get on the Web if you had evidence that the company was not living up to its pledge.  You can put a case on the Web.

Question:  Do you know if the Secretary-General is going to meet, or has met, with Arafat?

Spokesman:  Yes.  He met with Yassir Arafat last night.  Of course, they discussed the current situation in Israel and the occupied territories.  They also discussed what was going on here last night in the Security Council.

Question:  On the situation in Mogadishu, there was a report on the wires about eight fatalities.  Do you have any information on whether any of those might be United Nations personnel or what their identity might be?

Spokesman:  We don't.  We know there was a shoot-out at the compound.  We have no information that any of our people were killed.  We've seen the reports that there were fatalities.  We assume these were militia members.  That is our assumption as of now.  We still don't have a complete picture.

Question:  Were all United Nations personnel accounted for?

Spokesman:  I can't say that they are accounted for, in that these seven are thought to be detained.  We don't know where, but it's our assumption that they are detained.  Whether that means they are accounted for or not, I don't know.  Whether there might be others at this same sight, I don't think so.  I think these seven were all the staff members -- one was a local staff member -- that we had at this site.

Question:  You said that the Secretary-General told Arafat about the discussion in the Security Council.  Do we know how he reacted, knowing that there is so much division and no consensus?

Spokesman:  I really can't give you any of the details of what was said, except to say that they did discuss the Council's deliberations on this draft resolution.  Sorry.

Question:  There was no United Nations personnel involved in the shoot-out?  No United Nations soldiers or armed people?

Spokesman:  These people had no soldiers guarding them.  Neither did they have military provided by the Government.  They went in after a very careful security assessment.  We thought it was safe to go in.  And, clearly, the militia had other ideas.  So we're still waiting to see how this thing plays out.

Question:  Where had they gone in from?  I understand that it was like a visit.  It suggests that the whole United Nations operation was spied upon and the attack well planned.

Spokesman:  I can't say whether it was well planned or not.  I suppose we suspect it was.  They went in from Mogadishu, to northern Mogadishu, where the MSF compound was.

Thank you very much.

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