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 Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Susan Markham, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

**Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  I am sorry for the delay, but there were some small changes in today’s programme and I was trying to get the latest for you.

Joining us today is Dileep Nair, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), sitting to my right, who will talk to you about the OIOS tri-annual reports on the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNIDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Justice Programme (UNCPJP). We will do that after my briefing and Sue’s.

**Secretary-General’s Trip to the Middle East

The Secretary-General left New York this morning for London on his way to the Middle East.  He will spend the night in London and tomorrow morning he will fly to Cairo.

Friday, late afternoon, we put out his tentative itinerary.  There were a few changes of which I will inform you now.

The meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Ibn Abdul Azia Al Saud, that we had indicated would happen somewhere in Europe, was simply impossible to schedule.  It was impossible to reconcile the schedules of the two leaders, the Secretary-General and the Crown Prince.  So from London, where he will spend the night, as I just said, tomorrow morning he will fly to Cairo where on Wednesday morning he is expected to meet with the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.  While in Cairo, he will also meet with Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher El Sayed and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa. 

The Secretary-General will leave Cairo on Wednesday for Damascus.  That is a small change in the itinerary, again, because we had indicated Jordan.  But there was a switch.  He will go first to Damascus, and then he goes to the Jordanian capital, Amman, also on Thursday.

And then the rest of the week remains as indicated:  on Friday he will be in Lebanon; Saturday, Israel; Sunday, Palestinian Authority.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Terje Roed-Larsen, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East, is conducting meetings with United States Special Envoy William Burns, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, and officials from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office.  All of this in preparation of the Secretary-General’s visit.

**Special Session on Children

Here in New York, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette today addressed the third substantive session of the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session on Children, and introduced the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of the follow-up to the 1990 World Summit for Children.

The picture that emerges, she said, is one of mixed results.  Although some 155 countries have adopted national programmes of action to move forward the agenda for children, over 10 million children still die each year, often from easily preventable causes, and an estimated 150 million suffer from malnutrition.

She noted four priorities for children in the new decade:  promoting healthy lives; providing quality education; protecting children from abuse, exploitation and violence; and combating HIV/AIDS.

Copies of the Deputy Secretary-General’s speech are available in our office.

**Balkans

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today urged all sides in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s (FYROM) intensifying conflict to step back from the brink.  The warning came as thousands of ethnic Albanians crossed the border into neighbouring Kosovo for a fourth straight day.

High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers said, “More than 1 million people in the Balkans remain displaced from the conflicts of the past decade.  The last thing the region needs is more refugees.”

UNHCR workers monitoring the main Blace border crossing between FYROM and Kosovo say about 12,000 people -- mostly women and children -- have crossed the frontier since Friday.  Many were exhausted after walking for hours in the scorching Balkan heat.

Meanwhile, the Kosovo Force said nations serving with KFOR have responded to a request, received from the FYROM Government on Friday, to assist in the relief of the humanitarian crisis in Kumanovo.  Sunday afternoon, KFOR water tankers from the Polish contingent began delivering drinking water to distribution points in Kumanovo to help relieve the suffering of the people there.

KFOR also said further reinforcement of the Kosovo-FYROM border continues.  Over the weekend, 16 people were detained in four separate incidents, and a number of weapons and equipment seized.

More information is available in the UNHCR press releases and the notes from the United Nations mission in Kosovo.

**Security Council

Here in New York this morning, the Security Council began its closed consultations with a briefing from Ibrahima Fall, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs.  He briefed the Council on the latest developments in Somalia.

Immediately afterwards, Council members discussed the Secretary-General’s latest report on United Nations operations in Cyprus.  As part of that discussion, the Council received a briefing by the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, and by the Director of the Middle East and Asia Division in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Joachim Hutter.

The report on the United Nations operations in Cyprus, as you know, was released last week, in which the Secretary-General recommends the United Nations peacekeeping forces be extended a further six months.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council on the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is out today.

In it, the Secretary-General says he shares the same cautious optimism about the immediate future of the Lusaka peace process and the sense of foreboding with respect to Burundi, assessments made last month by the Security Council mission to the Great Lakes region of Africa.  He describes as particularly worrying the reported eastward movement of armed groups and their incursions into Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Regarding the United Nations operation, he notes, the lack of detailed information concerning numbers, locations, assembly areas, withdrawal routes and timetables provided by the parties is preventing the Secretariat from drawing up specific adjustments to the current mandate.

Nevertheless, he says that substantial progress made in the disengagement of forces demands follow-up.

The report includes an updated concept of operations, which it describes as a transition phase.  It envisages an increase of up to 2,500 military personnel over the current strength of 3,000.  The Secretary-General does not request an increase in the authorized strength of 5,537.

Concluding that the United Nations will be engaged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for some considerable time to come, the Secretary-General recommends the extension of the mission’s mandate for 12 months until 15 June 2002.

The Security Council is scheduled to take up the report in consultations tomorrow, Tuesday.

**Central African Republic

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to the Central African Republic, General Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali, left Libreville, Gabon, and we are awaiting confirmation that he has landed in the capital Bangui.

Before leaving Libreville, General Touré met with the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo.  [Please see last paragraph of this transcript for further information.]

On the humanitarian front, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is the lead humanitarian agency responding to the needs of the population in the aftermath of the attempted coup.

A United Nations flight carrying 30 tons of health and water supply equipment will arrive today in the Central African Republic from Kinshasa.  More flights from other locations in the region and in Europe are expected in the coming days.

Planning within the United Nations family is being made to assist between 80,000 and 100,000 people who have been displaced or who are now homeless as a result of the violence.

**HIV/AIDS

Still on Africa, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS, Stephen Lewis, met this morning with President Festus Mogae of Botswana and discussed a wide range of issues including national and African AIDS initiatives and the role of African leaders in combating HIV/AIDS in the region.

In other news on AIDS, at the Pakistan launch of the World AIDS campaign, the newly appointed Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) national spokesman for Pakistan, musician Salman Ahmad, said he would do all he can as an artist to help raise awareness of AIDS in Pakistan, especially among young people. 

More information available upstairs in a press release issued in Pakistan.

I would like to add that Stephen Lewis, while in Botswana, also met with the head of the Special AIDS Coordination Committee and heads of United Nations agencies in Botswana.  He is also scheduled to meet with representatives of civil society and he will also be visiting a few projects that deal with HIV/AIDS.

**Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention

Out today is the report by the Office of Internal Oversight Services on management practices in the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.  We have copies of the report available in the Spokesman's Office.

The report says that the major weaknesses of the Drug Control office stem from over-centralized and heavily personalized decision-making, and the absence of institutional mechanisms to ensure that programmes are properly conceived and efficiently executed.  The report says that overall team spirit was weak and outside confidence in the management of the Drug Control Office was low.

The report says that "any corrective measures can be successful under one key condition -- the competence, professionalism and integrity of top management, which is transparent and collegial and enjoys the trust of the staff."  It mentions several recommendations to improve the office, including an organizational structure that provides an adequate framework for its activities and reduces the lines of authority reporting directly to the top.

Of course, Mr. Nair is here, and he will be talking about these reports.  You can ask him any further questions.

**Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels on Saturday released 59 more children associated with their fighting forces.

The United Nations mission in Sierra Leone said the latest handover in Kailahoun brought to more than 800 the number of children released by RUF rebels.

**Press Conference

The last note in my briefing here, before taking your questions, is to announce that at 12:45 today, Sadako Ogata and Amartya Sen, Co-Chairs of the Commission on Human Security, will be in this room to brief you about the results of the first meeting of the Commission, which was held from the 8^th to the 10^th this month, in other words, this weekend.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Will the Secretary-General be engaged in negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians?

Deputy Spokesman:  He will be talking with both parties and other key leaders in the region, yes indeed.  He has been, as you know, very actively involved, through phone contacts with the leaders in the region and outside the region.  That will now be face-to-face as he visits the region.

Question:  Two more United Nations employees have been charged with extorting money from refugees in Kenya.  Is there a comment on this, and can you update us on the status of the investigation?

      Dileep Nair, Under-Secretary-General for OIOS:  The correction is that only one of them was a staff member.  The other person is not a staff member.  It is correct that they were arrested and they will be arraigned some time next week. The investigations, as I said, have led to the arrest of a few people, and these cases are right now in the courts and the judicial process is continuing.  It is now a total of four employees, three plus one.

Question:  Is the Secretary-General going to help re-start the negotiations between Syria, Lebanon and Israel?

Deputy Spokesman:  I will not advance what the Secretary-General’s discussion will be with each leader in the region.  I will be reporting on them as they happen.

Question:  There were three plus one arrests.  But then there was another former United Nations employee who went back to Italy.  So that is five.

Dileep Nair, Under-Secretary-General for OIOS:  That is right.  The person who went back to Italy has not been arrested for obvious reasons.  The person is outside the jurisdiction at this point in time.  So three of the previously arrested people were United Nations employees, plus one United Nations employee who was also arrested recently.

Deputy Spokesman:  Can I make just one clarification before we move on to Sue?  General Touré, the Special Envoy for the Central African Republic, while in Libreville, his meeting was not with President Bongo, but with his Foreign Minister Jean Peng.

**Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly

**Working Group on Security Council Reform

Thank you.  This morning, the President of the General Assembly chaired the meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase of the Membership of the Security Council, otherwise known as the Working Group on Security Council Reform.  This morning, the discussion focused on the question of the periodic review of an enlarged Council, one of the issues related to the so-called Cluster I issues.  The discussion was based on a Conference Room Paper submitted by the Bureau of the Working Group. 

The meeting will continue this afternoon on Cluster II issues, which relate to the working methods of the Security Council.

On Wednesday morning, the Working Group will meet again.  The President of the Council and some members will attend the meeting to brief the Working Group on recent developments on the Council working methods. 

The Working Group is also scheduled to meet on Thursday morning.

**Preparatory Committee for the Special Session on Children

The Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly on children, as Manoel mentioned, started this morning and will meet all week in Conference Room 4.  The Agenda and Programme of Work are available, and there is also a schedule of a number of side-events that you might find of interest.  I won’t go into any detail because you heard Carol Bellamy give you a full briefing on Thursday last.

**International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Tomorrow, the Assembly will meet to elect 27 judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  There is a slate of 64 candidates.  We can make those available for you, if you’d like.

**Fifth Committee

On Thursday, the Assembly is also scheduled to meet to consider the reports of the Fifth Committee.  I am not sure if it is going to be a morning, an afternoon or an all day meeting, but I should have more details by the end of the day.

**Special Session on Human Settlements

On Friday night, actually on Saturday morning around 7 a.m., the special session of the General Assembly on human settlements concluded by adopting a Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium.  In the Declaration, member States renewed their commitment to the principles of adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development.  I can provide you with the text of the Declaration as adopted, if you would like.

Just some statistics:  There were 171 speakers in the plenary for the special session, including two Vice-Presidents, three Deputy Prime Ministers,

69 Ministers, 20 Vice-Ministers, 42 Chairs of delegations, and 13 so-called others, including eight Observers, three United Nations entities and 11 Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs).  In fact, there were 450 NGO representatives from 170 organizations, as well as 67 mayors, and 125 journalists were accredited especially for the Special Session.  So it was a large turnout.

That is all I have.  Thank you.  Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Security Council reform has been before the Assembly for seven years.  Is there any hope for a breakthrough, or is this just busywork?

Spokesperson for the President:  The President is hopeful.  He has three or four conference room papers that lay out, step by step, what has been discussed so far, what needs to be discussed, and where to go from here.  I think it is a very focused discussion.  But it is up to member States as to whether or not they agree on anything, of course.

Question:  Is this going back to the idea of two members per region?

Spokesperson for the President:  Everything is on the table.  No, there is no particular decision yet been made on the membership issue.  It is all being discussed step by step.

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