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

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of the noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokeswoman for the Secretary-General.

** Annan/AIDS

The Secretary-General and Nane Annan traveled this morning to Philadelphia, where they are currently attending a luncheon hosted by Dorothy Ridings, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations, which brings together some 2,000 United States-based foundations.

Within the hour, the Secretary-General is set to deliver an address to the Council's annual conference in which he will emphasize the importance of providing resources to a global fund dedicated to the battle against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.  In Abuja, Nigeria, last week, the Secretary-General told a summit of African leaders that, at a minimum, an additional $7 billion to

$10 billion needs to be spent each year in the struggle against AIDS.

In his speech today, he will also urge private foundations to increase and multiply their own contributions to deal with the AIDS crisis, and to encourage their participation in the General Assembly's Special Session on HIV/AIDS, which is to take place here next month starting June 25.

We have copies of his speech available upstairs.  After he delivers the speech, we expect the Secretary-General to have a brief encounter with reporters in Philadelphia, and we'll have a transcript from that encounter available later today.

As you know, the Secretary-General is due back in New York by the early afternoon in time for his meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

** Lebanon

On Saturday afternoon, the Secretary-General met with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri at his residence on Sutton Place.

Following the meeting, which lasted for one hour, the Secretary-General did say a few words to reporters, which have been posted on our Web site.

Concerning the press reports on the future of the UN peacekeeping presence in Lebanon, the Secretary-General said, and I quote: “We are not withdrawing.  We are restructuring and scaling down, but we will be there.”  He added: “It is a question of restructuring and giving the force the mobility to do the work that it has to do.  We will be much more mobile.  The numbers may be smaller but we will be there and actively engaged.”

We expect the interim report on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to be issued much later today or tomorrow.

** Security Council

There are no meetings of the Security Council scheduled for today, which is also the last day of the United Kingdom presidency.

Starting tomorrow -- that is May 1 -- the Council will be presided over by the United States.

** Exit Strategy Report

In a report out on the racks today, the Secretary-General follows up on last November's debate in the Security Council on how to deal with ending UN peacekeeping operations, and notes that sometimes, persevering with a UN presence under adverse circumstances might be the "least bad" option.

At other times, he says, "a peacekeeping operation is the wrong instrument if the parties are bent on war and its presence may become a hindrance to conflict resolution".

The report studies the exit strategies that UN peacekeepers have pursued in relative successes, like El Salvador and Mozambique; failures, like Angola and Somalia; and partial successes, like Haiti.

One critical hindrance the report highlights is voluntary funding of programmes that support peacekeeping missions, such as demobilization and reintegration programmes or boundary commissions.  Although such programmes are not part of the official peacekeeping operation, the success of such missions often depend on those programmes, but voluntary funding for them often materializes late or not at all.

The report also includes an annex noting key questions that need to be asked in determining the formation, review and ultimate grounds for withdrawal of a peacekeeping mission.

** Georgia

In his latest report to the Security Council on the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which is out on the racks today, the Secretary-General says that the situation in the conflict zone in that country remains volatile, with

45 shooting incidents, 12 killings and nine abductions since the end of January.

The Secretary-General calls the continuing acts of violence, which have centred on the Gali district, most distressing, and he notes the Mission's convening of a meeting on April 16 between the two sides in which they signed a protocol agreeing to verify the physical condition of all detained individuals.

The Secretary-General says that the parties' meeting on confidence-building measures in Yalta marked a step forward, and appeals to all concerned to clear the way for the start of meaningful talks to define the status of Abkhazia within the State of Georgia.

You'll recall that, last Tuesday, the Security Council itself focused on peace efforts on Georgia in a private meeting with the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Dieter Boden, and Georgia's Minister for Special Affairs, Malkhaz Kakabadze.

** East Timor

Yesterday in East Timor, two UN peacekeepers were attacked by three unknown assailants at a beach in Hera, just outside Dili, and one soldier was wounded when his arm was slashed by a machete.  The assailants fled the scene once the other soldier drew her weapon.

The UN Mission believes that the motive for the attack may have been robbery, since the beach is an area where robberies have occurred.  UN police are investigating the matter.

** Child Slaves

The Government of Benin, along with the UNICEF country office in that country and the NGO Terre des Hommes, today issued a press release with preliminary findings in the enquiry into the children found aboard the vessel Etireno when it docked in Cotonou, in Benin on 17 April.  The forty-three children and young people on board were interviewed by Terre des Hommes and five said that some sort of financial transaction between their families and an intermediary and another eight were traveling with an unknown intermediary.   The Government of Benin still suspects that there was another ship with a larger number of children aboard and has appealed to the international community for assistance in confirming this.

A full report is expected shortly.  The press release in French is available upstairs in the Spokesman’s Office.

Committee against Torture

We have available also a press release today from Geneva on the opening by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharand, of the

26^th session of the Committee Against Torture.

During its three-week session, the Committee will examine the reports of Georgia, Greece, Bolivia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Costa Rica. 

You can get daily updates on the work of the Committee from the Web site of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

** Danube Speech

In Bucharest, Romania, today, Danuta Hübner, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General to the Summit on Environment and Sustainable Development in the Danube-Carpathian Region.

In the message, which is available upstairs, the Secretary-General notes that environmental pollution and the competition for the Danube river's waters have hurt the region's environment, and says it is encouraging that a convention on protecting the river and using it in a sustainable manner has entered into force.

** India/UNDP

On Saturday, authorities in the earthquake-stricken Indian state of Gujarat laid the foundation stone of a shelter project in the village of Rajansar in the Kutch district.  The project, supported by the UN Development Programme, will provide more than 1,000 single room, earthquake-proof shelters, housing about 5,500 people in one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquake last January.

The project will be duplicated by local non-governmental organizations and the Indian Government.  Initial funding of about $1 million for the shelters has been provided by the Government of Italy.

** Disarmament

A two-day consultation meeting organized by the non-governmental Middle Powers Initiative is beginning at United Nations Headquarters today, to deal with the thirteen steps towards eliminating nuclear weapons which were set out in the final document of last year's Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference.

Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, made the opening speech for the meeting this morning, and we hope to have the text available later today.

** Treaties

And just a short while ago, Andorra became the 30th country to deposit instruments of ratification to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.  The statute will come into force when 60 countries have ratified it.  So far, we are halfway there.

** Press Releases

And we have a press release from the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), announcing its 21^st session, which begins next week.  The Executive Secretary, Mervat Tellawy, will submit a report on the work of the Commission and its priorities for the biennium 2002-2003.

** Press Conferences

And on press conferences, at 1 o’clock today, Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will be here to brief you on the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held in the fall of 2002 in South Africa.

At 11:30 tomorrow, the NGO Steering Committee for the Commission on Sustainable Development will hold a press conference in this room, to discuss issues before the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, in particular the effects of international trade and globalization on the environment.

And finally, at 2:45, Martin Belinga-Eboutou, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and others will hold a press conference following a special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions to discuss development financing, official development assistance (ODA), debt and the prevention of financial crises.

** News Flash

And last, but not least, finally, I have a little news flash from the BBC: Theresa Sturley from the BBC bureau here, is now the mother of a healthy baby girl, Kate Sturley Head, 8lbs.2 oz.  They are both doing fine and we have been asked to keep phone calls to her down to a minimum for the next few days while they get some rest.  That’s all you have from me today.

Any questions?

** Questions and Answers

Question:  President Museveni (Uganda) has announced that he was withdrawing from the peace agreement on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Has there been any reaction from the Secretary-General?  Does the United Nations feel threatened by that decision?

Spokesman:  We have seen a media report of the statement made by President Museveni over the weekend.  I checked with our mission in Kinshasa a little while ago.  We have not received anything officially from the Ugandan Government regarding this announcement, but there are a couple of points we like to highlight.  One is that, so far, the Ugandan Government continues to be in compliance with the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement, and we expect that they’ll continue to remain in compliance.

Secondly, we see no connection between the compliance with the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement and the statements made in the report of the expert panel on the illegal exploitation of natural resources (of the DRC).  The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) -- that’s the United Nations mission there -- is reviewing the situation and would recommend taking action, if there’s any.  These are the points that I want to make, preliminarily, now on the statement that was reported over the weekend.

Question:  The report on UNIFIL is expected to be released this afternoon. Will it be released before the meeting between the Secretary-General and Isreali Foreign Minister Peres?

Spokesman:  I think, at this point, it’s too early to tell.  As I mentioned earlier, it probably will be issued either late today, or possibly tomorrow.  It’s too early to tell, but we’ll keep you posted on that, as soon as we know.  Any other questions?

Question:  Will Mr. Peres come out to the stakeout once he’s done with the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  No.  We’ll, of course, announce it close to the time that he would come down be he has arranged to come to Room 226, here --

probably around 6 o’clock.

Question:  Will the Secretary-General make a comment about his discussions with Mr. Peres?

Spokesman:  At the moment, all I have heard about is the arrangement for

Mr. Peres to come to talk to you here, but we can check.

Question:  (about a report on Liberia, inaudible)

Spokesman:  The only reports that have hit the racks we mentioned to you -– there are two reports today, one on peacekeeping, one on Georgia.  There were a slew of reports scheduled to have come out today, and in the next few days, so you’ll be seeing these reports, shortly.

Any more questions?  Have a good afternoon.

* *** *