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

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.

**Introduction

Good afternoon.  Welcome to the visiting journalists from Asia.  You’re just about the only ones here because everyone else is off filing reports on the Secretary-General’s comments that he made to the press just a few minutes ago.  And I’ll start with that item.

**Secretary-General on the Middle East

The Secretary-General this morning briefed the Security Council on the Middle East, discussing developments both on the Israeli-Palestinian track and on the Israel-Lebanon-Syria track.  Speaking at the Security Council stakeout following the briefing, the Secretary-General said that he had expressed his grave concern to the Council about the situation in the Middle East.  He reiterated that he believes that the report by the panel chaired by former United States Senator George Mitchell, along with the Egyptian-Jordanian peace initiative, offers a way forward from the current situation.

He said that he told the Council that he would keep up his active involvement on the Middle East, and he would be willing to go to the region at the appropriate time.  He said, in response to questions, that the first steps now are to bring the parties to end the violence, to take up confidence-building measures and to eventually return to the negotiating table.  Any monitoring mechanism, he said, would have to be agreed to by the parties.  He added that the United States response to the Mitchell report was very encouraging, and notes that United States Secretary of State Colin Powell is working in close cooperation with other leaders on the issue.

Immediately after the Secretary-General's briefing, the Security Council held closed consultations on Angola, to hear from the Secretary-General's Adviser for Special Assignments in Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, on his recent mission to that country.  We have scheduled a press briefing by Mr. Gambari once he has finished his work in the Council.  Given the Council's lengthy schedule today, he might speak either in this room or at the Security Council stakeout, and we'll inform you on the intercom once he is ready to talk to you.  Then at 3:30 this afternoon, the Council will hold consultations on Iraq.

**Oil for Food Programme in Iraq

The Secretary-General's latest 180-day report on the implementation of the oil-for-food programme is out today, and should be available at the Documents Counter later this afternoon.  This report deals with phase nine of the programme, which began on 6 December of last year and will end on 3 June.

The report notes that over the past four years, the humanitarian programme has contributed to improving the living conditions of the average Iraqi.  As

foreseen, the report confirms a revenue shortfall of about $2.6 billion for the oil-for-food programme in phase IX, with the final revenue expected to stand at $5.7 billion, some $4 billion less than the funds received under the previous phase.

The Secretary-General's report underlines the necessity for the Government of Iraq to place a priority on the contracting of humanitarian supplies, especially in the food, health and nutrition sectors.  With only three weeks left to the end of the current phase, he notes that not a single contract had been received by the Office of the Iraq Programme for the health, education, water and sanitation and oil sectors.  He adds that with the size of revenues available to the programme, shortfalls in distribution basket items and essential medicines can no longer be justified.  The Secretary-General emphasizes equally his grave concern at the large value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Council’s 661 sanctions committee, which at the time the report was completed stood at

$3.7 billion.  Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, intends to present the report to the Security Council this Friday.

Also on Iraq, copies of the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme, covering the period 12 to 18 May, is available in my office.  It shows that Iraq exported some 13.6 million barrels of oil last week, earning an estimated revenue of E365 million (euros) at current prices.

**Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes

The first preparatory session of the so-called Inter-Congolese Dialogue will take place on 16 July, Ambassador Jean-David Levitte of France told journalists this morning in Lusaka, Zambia just before the start of the Security Council delegation’s meeting with Zambian President Frederick Chiluba.  The 12 ambassadors of the Security Council mission to the Great Lakes had met with Sir Ketumile Masire, Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese dialogue, this morning for over an hour.

Mr. Levitte also told journalists that Masire would be sending his representatives during the month of June throughout the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the process of selecting representatives for the dialogue.  In the afternoon, the Council delegation was expected to meet with members of the Political Committee overseeing the Lusaka Accords.  The session, which is expected to last until the early evening, will be opened by President Chiluba.

Mr. Levitte said the Security Council delegation and the members of the Political Committee will examine the next steps in the process “as partners”.  The discussions will be on the major facets of the Congolese peace process, including the disengagement of forces, disarmament and demobilization of so-called negative forces, and finally, the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the Democratic Republic. 

We’ve just received an update on this item.  At the Political Committee meeting which is now under way in Lusaka, Jean-Pierre Bemba’s rebel movement, or the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), announced it will disengage from the front lines in the Democratic Republic.  The delegation is now scheduled to meet with the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD)-Goma in Lusaka later tonight.

**Sierra Leone

The disarmament of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Civil Defence Force (CDF) combatants, which began on Friday, continued today in two districts of Sierra Leone, that is, in Kambia and Port Loko.  So far, a total of 1,728 RUF and CDF combatants have disarmed.  The ex-combatants turned in a range of heavy and light weapons, including an anti-aircraft battery and mortars, as well as AK-47s, AK-58s, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and other small arms and ammunition.  The weapons were immediately disabled on hand-over.

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) also reported today that the CDF on the night of 19/20 May attacked RUF positions approximately

20 miles east of Koidu, in violation of the 15 May cessation of hostilities agreement.  This attack was verified by the Bangladeshi Battalion, which maintains a permanent patrol presence in Koidu.  The attack caused some 600 internally displaced persons to flee the area and move westwards towards Sefadu.

A joint United Nations-Government of Sierra Leone delegation traveled to Koidu today to talk to the CDF militia on the ground with a view to resolving the situation.

**Ethiopia/Eritrea

Senior members of the Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces and United Nations peacekeepers held the sixth meeting of the Military Coordination Committee yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya, as part the ongoing process of solidifying peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea.  The parties agreed on a number of measures, including the establishment of a sector-level military coordination committee to address local security and military concerns on the ground.  Agreement was also reached on the need to develop a mechanism to handle the unburied remains of those killed in the two-year conflict.  See the press release issued by the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) for more information.  You can find it in my office.

**UNDOF in the Middle East

The Secretary-General's latest six-month report on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which is on the Golan Heights, has gone to the Security Council, and it’s available in my office and on the Web.  The report notes that the area of the Force's operations was generally quiet over the past six months, except for the Shab'a Farms area.  As in the past, both sides denied access to United Nations inspection teams to some of their positions.  In addition to previous restrictions, Israel, in recent months, has denied the inspection teams access to Area 6 of its operations, where Shab'a Farms are located.

The Secretary-General says that the situation in the Middle East continues to be potentially dangerous, and he considers UNDOF's presence to be essential.  He recommends that the Council extend its mandate by another six months, until

30 November.  He also notes the shortfall in funding for UNDOF, with unpaid assessments currently amounting to some $22.8 million.

**Stockholm Convention on Pollutants Conference

The Diplomatic Conference to Sign the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants began today in Stockholm, Sweden.  Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General, in which he congratulated more than

100 countries that will sign the agreement and encouraged others to both sign and ratify the treaty so that it can enter into force as soon as possible.  The Convention will set out measures to ban, control or replace twelve of the world’s most damaging pesticides, industrial chemicals and other organic pollutants.  It will also strengthen international legal machinery on the environment.

**East Timor

The Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Julian Harston, will be joining the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) for three months to coordinate various planning activities on the successor mission to the current mission there.  He is to arrive in East Timor this Friday.

An eight-member working group, including four Timorese and four United Nations members, is already dealing with the issue of international assistance for East Timor once UNTAET ends.  The group is expected to issue a report to UNTAET by the end of this month.  We have more details from Dili.

**Consolidated Appeals

On consolidated appeals, six months after the Secretary-General launched the 2001 Consolidated Appeals, a report on the Appeals shows that only 23 percent of the needs have been met.  In a review meeting held in Geneva today, Ross Mountain, the Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that “the infamous gap between relief and rehabilitation yawns even wider and our efforts to make the bridge to the future are constantly falling short without funding.”

Of the $2.8 billion called for in the Appeals, $625 million has been funded leaving a gap of about $2.1 billion.  Some of the hardest hit appeals are for Somalia, with only 5.2 per cent of the $129 million funded so far, and Tajikistan with 8.9 per cent of the $82 million requested.  The report gives a breakdown for each of the 19 complex emergencies in Africa, Asia and Europe.  The humanitarian community faces an environment that has become more and more insecure and access to the most vulnerable populations is becoming increasingly dangerous.  We have more information upstairs.

**World Sports Forum

For you sports fans, now, speaking to the World Sports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland yesterday, former Swiss President Adolf Ogi, the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, urged greater cooperation between the United Nations and the sports world and said, "The United Nations is ready to take up sport.  It is time for sport to take up the United Nations."  Mr. Ogi noted that, in one United Nations peacekeeping mission, that in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), United Nations troops said that when they deployed, one of the first requests they received was for soccer balls and volleyball equipment.

He noted other contributions that the sports world could make in advancing the goals of the United Nations, including ensuring full respect for international labor in the sports industry, particularly the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.  "Sports has to mean fair play," he said, "not only on the pitch, but also starting at the production level."  We have the speech upstairs if you’re interested.

**Press Release from FAO

We got a press release today from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, announcing a new multi-million dollar, long-term cooperation agreement with the Government of the Netherlands.  In addition to the $10 million the Netherlands contributes to the FAO regular budget and the $30 million it provides to finance regional and country level projects, the new agreement will provide $9 million more, up to the end of 2002.  The Netherlands intends to develop this contribution into long-term cooperation.

**World Health Assembly

The fifty-fourth World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) ended in Geneva today and we have a press release upstairs on that.

**ECA/ECOSOC Headquarters Event

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will be holding a panel discussion on the theme, “coordination of the United Nations work in Africa, meeting the international development goals”.  That’ll be tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon in conference room two.  A media advisory with more information is available in my office.  Members of permanent missions, United Nations staff, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and you, the media, are invited.

**UNCA Directory Party

And here’s the news you’ve all been waiting for.  The annual United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) directory party is going to take place this week, 24 May, 5:30 p.m.  That’s to launch the directory of correspondents, their names, their phone numbers, all that essential information, home phone numbers too, I think.  You’re all invited, as well as United Nations mission press officers, if any of you are watching on closed-circuit television.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  I asked the Secretary-General, but perhaps you can answer a little bit more closely.  Do you have any comment on the Taliban’s announcement today that it would seek to publicly identify all Hindus in Afghanistan?

Spokesman:  We spoke to our offices in Afghanistan this morning and they said that at this time they cannot confirm these reports, and in fact the Taliban authorities have denied it.  That’s all we know now, but they did say they are looking into it.  So if we get any more information, we’ll let you know immediately.

Question  (from a correspondent with the Rutland Herald in Vermont) I wonder if you could tell us the status of the current preparatory meetings for the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS for the end of June, in particular the involvement of what is now being called civil society, including people living with AIDS.  Also, as you mentioned, most of our audience right now

may be from Asia.  A number of Asian and Pacific people in the civil society, while very happy for the attention to Africa, are concerned that the focus of the General Assembly, if it’s too Africa focused, will not understand that the pandemic is global and sorely affecting Asia and the Pacific, as well as the former Soviet Union, Latin America and other regions.

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General has said over and over that this is a global problem.  I think it’s quite clear that everyone is focusing on the worldwide dimensions of the problem.  The preparations for the Assembly are going forward.  The Secretary-General himself is involved in finalizing the details of the Global Fund that he has proposed, that he hopes will be ready to be presented to the special session in detail.  And also at that time, he hopes there will be the banking facility already in place so that those attending the session, not just governments but NGOs, private corporations and individuals, would know where to deposit their checks.

As to the NGO participation, I think we were probably a bit overwhelmed by the size of the number of NGOs that are trying to participate directly, and I don’t personally know the details, you might ask the spokesperson for the General Assembly President, what formula they worked out to make that access as equitable as possible without being able to open the doors to absolutely everybody.

Question:  Regarding the new initiative for negotiation between the Palestinians and Israelis that the United States is convening, will the United Nations be involved, since a number of people don’t trust that the United States could be a good mediator.

Spokesman:  You heard the Secretary-General say that he felt that the Mitchell Commission report, together with the Egyptian/Jordanian peace proposal, provided a good basis to the Palestinians and Israelis, should they wish to get the violence under control and gradually work their way back to the negotiating table.  He’s also emphasized the Sharm el-Sheikh group, adding Russia to the list of those who attended the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, as actors who have been involved since Sharm el-Sheikh, in constant touch with each other, trying to get this tragic situation under control.  He feels, I believe, that you really need a global effort, a unified effort, to deal with a problem of this magnitude.  And he’s calling on everyone to pull together.

Thank you very much.   

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