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, and Susan Markham, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Our guest today is Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund; and she will be introducing the Secretary-General’s report, “We the Children”, which is an end-of-decade review since the World Summit on Children on the status of the world’s children.  We’ll be getting to you in just a minute, Carol.

** Security Council

On the Security Council, this morning they’re meeting in closed consultations to discuss the 5th quarterly report of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).  That is on Iraq, of course; better known as UNMOVIC, which is out on the racks exactly a week ago today.

The Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC, Dr. Hans Blix, will present the report to the Council members.  And if you are interested, Dr. Blix will be available at the stakeout outside the Council after his presentation.

Also on the Council’s agenda this morning is a discussion of the oil-for-food programme.  You will recall that last week, as a part of the discussions, Council members decided that they would take up this issue on a weekly basis at the ambassadorial level in consultations.  So that’s a weekly consultation taking place today.

** Security Council Reports

And then, on the racks today is a letter from Ambassador Curtis Ward of Jamaica, as Chairman of the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations.  He is submitting this group’s first report to the Council.

It was assigned the task of examining the relationship between the Security Council, troop-contributing countries and the Secretariat.  And Ambassador Ward recommends that the Security Council adopt the group’s recommendations, which are contained in a draft resolution and annexes.  And they are included in the document –- the annexes, that is.

The Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations on that report tomorrow.

Also on reports, the Secretary-General’s report on the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will not be out today as we thought; earliest, tomorrow, and maybe Monday.  We will keep you informed.

** Central African Republic

On the Central African Republic, General Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali, whom the Secretary-General just appointed his Special Envoy to the Central African Republic, will leave Bamako on Saturday.

He will first stop at Libreville, Gabon, where he is expected to meet with President Omar Bongo; and then he will go on to Bangui, arriving either Sunday night or Monday.

  **Afghanistan

The United Nations' top humanitarian official today urged a strong and quick response to appeals for assistance in Afghanistan, where a combination of conflict and drought has triggered a major population displacement.

The appeal by Kenzo Oshima, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, was made to the 16-member Afghan Support Group, meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, to review the aid response in Afghanistan.

The United Nations humanitarian Coordinator has estimated needs this year to reach some $800,000 per day.

** Kosovo Notes

Today’s briefing notes from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo mention an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in southwest Kosovo.  The Institute of Public Health has reported 21 cases of this very serious disease, resulting in three deaths.  They say, though, that it is not an epidemic.

The disease is transmitted by ticks, and so it is a problem found in the countryside, rather than urban areas.

** East Timor

Speaking at a swearing-in ceremony of East Timorese senior civil servants, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said that the “timorization” of the public administration –- the recruitment, selection and placement of East Timorese as civil servants during the transition to independence -– has displayed “impressive numbers.”

He said more than 9,000 East Timorese civil servants, out of a total of 10,554 that were authorized to be recruited, have now been recruited.  Over half of the allocated managerial posts have been filled.  Over 20 per cent of the filled positions are women.

More details are available in the briefing note from Dili, and they will also tell you about a month-long workshop on political participation for more than 150 East Timorese women who are potential candidates in the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections.

** Press Releases

Couple of press releases to flag for you today: one from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with news of their very first verdict of acquittal.  Trial Chamber 1 found Ignace Bagilishema not guilty on all seven counts of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and Serious Violations of the Geneva Conventions.  Judges Erik Mose, Asoka Guawardana and Mehmet Guney were unanimous in finding the former Bourgmestre of Mabanza Commune in the Kibuye Prefecture of Rwanda not guilty.

Second press release from UNICEF, announcing that their Goodwill Ambassador, Harry Belafonte, will visit South Africa from 11 to 19 June to mobilize support for the campaign against HIV/AIDS.  During his visit, he will visit HIV/AIDS projects and hold meetings with Government officials and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  On his return, UNICEF will hold a press conference to launch the report “Listening to the Children:  child workers in the shadow of AIDS”.  And there is a press release in my office with more information.

** Book Launch

There will be a book launch this afternoon.  Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh and Noeleen Heyzer, the Director of the United Nations Development Fund, will participate in the launch of the book “Families as we are: conversations from around the world”.  Richard Holbrooke, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote the foreword to this collection of stories on many different types of families in vastly different settings around the world.  The press is invited to attend this programme which starts at 5 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium.

** Press Conferences

I see we have four this afternoon:

1:30, there will be a press update on the proceedings of the General Assembly Special Session on Habitat.

2:15, Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, will talk about his recent mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

3 p.m., the Habitat Coalition for Housing and Land Rights will talk about the NGO position with regard to discussions taking place in the Special Session.

And, finally, at 4 p.m., Ambassador Lamuel Stanislaus of Grenada and others, will launch Global Peace Games 2001, which is a series of sports and arts events in celebration of the International Day of Peace.

** Press Conferences Tomorrow

Two press conferences for tomorrow morning: 9:15 –- are you all going to be awake for that?  We’ll have to see!  Tunisian Minister of Equipment and Housing Slaheddine Belaid, the Chairperson of the Special Session’s Thematic Committee, will hold a press conference here.

And then, 10 O’clock, members of the Council of Ministers for Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the Caribbean will be in this room to brief you.  The speakers will include the Vice-President of the Cuban National Institute for Housing, the Panamanian Minister for Housing, and the Venezuelan Vice-Minister for Infrastructure, who is also the Secretary of the Council of Ministers.        

That’s all I have for you before we go to Sue.

** Questions and Answers

Question:  Any news about the truce between the Albanians and the State of Macedonia?

Spokesman:  No.  Anything else?

Question:  There are reports that the Secretary-General has received a letter from the Taliban about the lifting of sanctions against Afghanistan.  Is there any more on that?

Spokesman:  I’m not aware of that document, but we’ll look into it.  Tell me about that, afterwards.  [It had not been received by the United Nations.]

Question:  Events in the Central African Republic are very confusing.  Do you have any indication as to whether the Government is in complete control?

Spokesman:  No. As I have just said, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy is on the way.

Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly

** Special Session

This morning, the Special Session of the General Assembly continued.  They are in the process of hearing 32 speakers, including two from non-member States, speaking at the end of the morning session.  There would be two non-member States representatives speaking in the afternoon session, too.  Copies of the speeches will be available, if you want them, in Conference Room 1, which is the media centre.

** Thematic Committee

The Thematic Committee continued to also discuss the review and appraisal of what has happened since the last meeting on Habitat issues -- which was in Istanbul five years ago, as you know.

This morning, they were looking at environmental management case studies and this afternoon, they will be looking at urban government issues.  And we have a couple of people from that Committee to come and see you at the 1:30 briefing.  The Minister of Housing from South Africa and also the Director of Strategic Planning for the city of Stockholm will be here at 1:30, along with the Spokesman for Mrs. Tibaijuka.  They will give you insights into some of the case studies that have been discussed in the Thematic Committee.

** Committee of the Whole

The Committee of the Whole also is continuing today.  Twenty-four speakers are listed for this morning, and I don't think they are going to have a long meeting this afternoon because there are only two speakers listed.  There were about five or so United Nations agencies that spoke this morning and a number of interesting NGOs.  You are able to go to that meeting, if you're interested.  We can give you some more information if you want to know about the NGOs.

The working group of the Committee of the Whole is continuing negotiations on the bracketed paragraphs.  I just checked and they have not made any further

progress.  As you know, the Chairman of the Committee, Ambassador Duran, had a press conference yesterday, and he gave an update of where they were at with the negotiations, but there's no change since then.  I hope to have good news for you by the end of the day.  We hope they will complete negotiations on these paragraphs.

** NGO Participants

There are 450 NGOs here who have been accredited from 70 NGO organizations. That plus the 67 mayors who came who are now acting as part of delegations or NGO organizations, and 50 journalists.  I'm sorry I don't have the number yet of the extra people here who are with delegations.  So, I don't have the total overall figure of the number of extra people here for the Habitat Special Session.  I hope to try to get that for you later today.

That's all I have.

** Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Any questions for Sue?

Question:  Is the President of the General Assembly confident that the Session would adjourn tomorrow at the scheduled time?

Spokesperson:  You mean will they finish negotiations on the draft Declaration?  I hope by the end of this afternoon they would have concluded the negotiations and the draft would go to the Committee of the Whole and be adopted tomorrow morning.  It would then go to the plenary tomorrow afternoon.  That's the scenario, and that's what we expect to happen.

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