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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

**Statement on Kashmir

Good afternoon.  We issued a statement earlier this morning on Kashmir:

“The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the decision of the Government of India to invite the Chief Executive of Pakistan to come to New Delhi.  He is encouraged that General Musharraf has responded positively to this invitation and hopes that a summit between Prime Minister Vajpayee and General Musharraf will be arranged without undue delay.  The Secretary-General, who recently visited southeast Asia and conferred with both leaders, has consistently urged India and Pakistan to resume direct contacts to address outstanding bilateral and regional issues, including Kashmir.  He believes that a meeting now at the highest level would further ease tensions in the region and facilitate a resumption of a sustained Indo-Pakistan dialogue, which is very much in the long-term interest of both countries.”

That statement is available upstairs in the Spokesman’s office.

**Middle East

On the Middle East, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, is in Jerusalem today, where he noted the first anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and called it a victory for both people.  He noted the violation today of the Blue Line in an incident today in which an Israeli plane shot down a Lebanese plane near the Blue Line.  The precise facts about that incident are not yet known, although United Nations officials, including the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon, Staffan De Mistura, are trying to determine what happened. 

“Regardless,” Mr. Larsen said, “all violations of the Blue Line, whether ill-intentioned or not, must not occur.”

**Statement on the Middle East

Staffan de Mistura issued a statement on the airplane incident in which he says:  “This sad event, however, is an important reminder of the current highly volatile situation in the region and in particular, along the Blue Line, in relation to the first anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon.  In this connection, we should also not underestimate the negative effects of the almost daily violations by the Israeli Air Force across the Blue Line and the unjustified sonic booms deep inside Lebanon, which in turn contribute to increased tension.”  This is a statement issued in Beirut by the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for Southern Lebanon, Staffan De Mistura.

**Security Council Schedule

As you know, the Security Council is not meeting today and so far no meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, either, although we’ll let you know if any meetings do occur.  The next scheduled meeting of the Security Council is actually next Tuesday.  As you know, Monday is a holiday in the United States.  On Tuesday, the Council expects to hold consultations to hear from the mission to the Great Lakes region led by Ambassador Jean-David Levitte of France.

**Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes

That mission, that’s the Security Council mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa, is in Kigali today, and they are having discussions with Rwandan officials.  From the airport, the ambassadors were taken straight to the Gisozi Genocide Memorial, the memorial which is still under construction.  The mayor of Kigali welcomed the Security Council delegation and gave them a history of the genocide which took place in 1994.

“Despite receiving warning signs from many United Nations agencies and from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR),” the mayor said, referring to the United Nations mission there at the time, “the international community turned a deaf ear and watched as a population was almost exterminated.”  Ambassador Levitte then laid a wreath on one of the graves on behalf of the whole delegation.  During a tour of the site, it was explained to the ambassadors that close to 250,000 people had been taken from mass graves and reburied at the memorial.  The delegation then met with President Paul Kagame and members of his government.  They will remain overnight and then travel to Kampala, Uganda, the last stop of the eight-country tour.  We have a complete note on the Council mission’s activities upstairs.

**Kosovo

Today in Kosovo, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Hans Haekerup, welcomed Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica’s remarks in the media recommending that the Kosovo Serbs register as voters for the Kosovo elections.  The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) reiterated its belief that all citizens of Kosovo should participate fully in the 17 November elections.  Early this morning in neighbouring Serbia, meanwhile, Yugoslav Joint Security Forces moved advanced elements into so-called Sector Bravo of the Ground Safety Zone, the buffer zone between southern Serbia and Kosovo.  There are further details on both of these items in today’s briefing notes from UNMIK.

**Secretary-General in Washington

We just got a call from Fred Eckhard, the Spokesman traveling with the Secretary-General in Washington, D.C.  The Secretary-General is in Washington this morning and he went up on the Hill for meetings with members of Congress.  He first met with Representative Richard Gephardt, the Democratic Minority leader, who was joined by three members of the House Appropriations Committee, David Obey, Nita Lowey and Nancy Pelosi.  They discussed the Balkans and peacekeeping missions in Africa, as well as the Middle East and Iraq.  The Secretary-General raised his call to action against HIV/AIDS.  They also discussed the United Nations budget, with Joseph Connor emphasizing that the United Nations budget had not grown since 1994.

The Secretary-General then met with the members of the House International Relations Committee, including Chairman Henry Hyde and ranking minority member Tom Lantos.  Over 20 members of the Committee attended the session.  Most had a chance to ask the Secretary-General a question or two.  The topics ranged from the Middle-East to the details of the Secretary-General’s proposed Global Fund for AIDS and Health, the recent elections in the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and political hotspots such as the Middle-East and Balkans.  The issue of the United States rejoining the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also came up, with one member saying that legislation to permit United States reentry had been introduced last week.

The Secretary-General is now in a private lunch, after which he will meet with the editorial board of the Washington Post and have further meetings with members of Congress.  We’ll probably get an update later this afternoon about the rest of the programme in Washington.

**Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, will undertake a mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 24 May to 3 June.  In accordance with the Special Representative’s mandate and Security Council resolution 1314, the mission objective is to make a first-hand assessment of the impact of the war on children, and to explore with all parties concerned the prospects for post-conflict rehabilitation for them.  We have a note with more detail upstairs for you.

**OAU Anniversary

This morning in a closed session in the Trusteeship Council chamber, the African Group celebrated the thirty-eighth anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).  On the Secretary-General’s behalf, his Special Advisor on Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, applauded the OAU’s efforts to mobilize the collective will of the continent against mankind’s ancient enemies: war, want and disease.  He declared the OAU to be an indispensable forum where its member states can consult and plan how best to further shared interests.  Copies of this message are available upstairs, or you can find it on our Web site.

**Forum on Children in Africa

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, has commended the OAU for its decision to hold a high-level meeting to review the situation of children in Africa.  The Pan-African Forum on the Future of Children in Africa will take place in Cairo, Egypt from 28 to 31 May.  We have a press release on that upstairs.

**UNIFEM/UNAIDS Cooperation Agreement

In one more press release to flag, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) will today sign a cooperation agreement to address the alarming spread of the disease among women and girls.  Women constitute 40 per cent of the 34.7 million adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

**NGO Committee

Just a couple of other items.  The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations of the Economic and Social Council is meeting today, as you know.  They met this morning to consider some 50 new applications for consultative status.  They will be meeting this afternoon at three o’clock in conference room four to consider complaints.  [That session was later postponed until tomorrow.] More information can be found in the Department of Public Information (DPI) press release on the racks and on the Web site.

**Budget

On budget issues, today El Salvador became the 81st Member State to pay its regular budget contribution for this year in full, with a payment of more than $180,000.

**Press Conference

On press conferences, at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow, the Troika of the European Union will hold a press conference to present an infopack on the European Union’s work at the United Nations.  Speakers will include the ambassadors of Sweden, Belgium, the European Commission and the European Union.

**UNCA Directory Party Final Call

Finally, one more reminder from the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) that it will be hosting a party tonight to launch the new edition of their directory at 5:30 p.m. at the UNCA Club, third floor.  Refreshments will be served.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Will the afternoon NGO session be televised?  Secondly, could your office ask DPI to include the list of speakers when they write a press release?  They always just say, “China, so and so.”

Answer:  DPI has noted that.  The afternoon session should be open, but we will also look into that.  If they’re listening to complaints, it might not be open.

Question:  Will it be televised?

Answer:  We’ll look into that.  The programme now calls for the morning session to be televised but we’ve just heard they’re meeting at three again and they may hear a complaint against the NGO, Freedom House issue.  [The session was later postponed until Friday.]

Question:  Will the political change in Congress affect the Secretary-General’s schedule?

Answer:  Not that we’ve heard, as of now.  I’ve mentioned the meetings he’s had already.  In our conversations with the delegation so far, there have been no indications of any changes.  But we’ll get a read-out on that later this afternoon.

Question:  On the European Union press conference tomorrow at 11 a.m., are there any more details on the subject?

Answer:  On the press conference, you should probably contact the representatives who will attend the press conference for more details on that.

Question:  The Secretary-General has made more trips to Washington this year than some of his predecessors made in a year or two.  What’s the significance of all these trips to Washington?  Is something going on that we don’t know about?

Answer:  I don’t think so.  I think we’ve been up-front about all the trips he’s taken.  As you know, today’s visit was something that had been planned for a while.  The timing of the mission today has probably drawn more attention to it. The trips he’s taken are in response to invitations and we’ve been reporting on each one and we’ll continue to do so.

Question:  Has he had any indication of when that $580-odd billion transfer of funds will be made?

Answer:  We’ve had no more information today than what I just conveyed to you.

Question:  Again, housekeeping.  Could you ask in the future if his office could kindly announce the itineraries earlier than they do?  Aside from the fact that he’s not getting any press coverage because of the Jeffords thing, nobody could possibly get someone to cover him at that short notice.  It takes a lot of work.  He’ll be talking to people, he’s got a lot of meetings.  So nobody can cover him here, nobody can cover him down there.  It can’t be done if we’re told five hours before.  I know you’re trying, but please tell the 38th floor that it doesn’t help if he talks to people without any press coverage on these key issues.

Question:  Yes.  Less than twenty-four hours is difficult, not just here but in Washington because the news people there do their planning a little further in advance too.

Answer:  I think this message is being heard.  Thanks.

Question:  Please make sure because some of these messages don’t make it into your write-up of meetings.

Answer:  I think the near-verbatim summary covers most of everything that’s been said.  But your points are well taken.  Any other questions?  All right, have a good afternoon.

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