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.

Good afternoon.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General arrived in Munich, Germany, at 6:30 this morning after an overnight flight from Lusaka, Zambia, where he attended the Organization of African Unity Summit, which as of today, I understand, is the African Union.  He is working at his hotel today in Munich and he will begin an official visit to Germany tomorrow. 

**Security Council

The Security Council held a formal meeting this morning to adopt a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP) until 15 January of next year.

The Council then went into a closed session to hold informal consultations on Somalia.  Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the Director of the Africa I Division in the Department of Political Affairs, updated Council members on the political and humanitarian situation in Somalia.

**Small Arms

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects is continuing this morning.  Thirty-four speakers are scheduled to go to the podium.  Due to the large number of speakers, the ministerial segment began today at 9 a.m., as we warned yesterday it probably would.  It will also open at 9 a.m. tomorrow and also on Friday.  The plenary will meet in closed session in the afternoon today to negotiate the draft Programme of Action.

Meanwhile, this morning, Mali became the first country to sign the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime signed in Palermo, Italy, last December.  Brazil will follow this afternoon at 3:15 p.m.

The legally binding Protocol was agreed on in Vienna on 2 March.  It will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the fortieth ratification. 

As one of the many side events happening during the Small Arms Conference, “iHuman 2000 Peace Initiative”, unless that's "I, Human", I'm not quite sure -- an exhibit also known as “The Gun Sculpture” -- will officially open in the General Assembly Public Lobby this evening at 6 p.m.  It's, I think, a two or seven-ton sculpture; it's a huge thing: a sculpture made up of weapons.  The Gun Sculpture was created by Canadian artists Wallis Kendal and Sandra Bromley and is made up of over 7,000 deactivated weapons donated by police forces, the military and communities from around the world.  It weighs 5 tons; I was off by two.  The

massive structure evokes a prison cell.  A wall-sized message board is provided at the exhibit site for visitors to write their own personal messages.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Canadian Mission to the United Nations and the Department for Disarmament Affairs.

**UNIFIL videotape

I was asked on Monday whether there were plans for an internal investigation into our handling of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) videotape which has been taking up a lot of our time in the past week.  I answered no.  However, the Secretary-General has ordered an internal inquiry.  I have the following statement on that subject, attributable to the Spokesman:

"The Secretary-General has decided to initiate an internal investigation into the facts surrounding the videotape taken by the Indian Battalion of UNIFIL a few hours after the attack across the “blue line” in which three Israeli Defense Force soldiers were taken captive by Hizbollah.  The inquiry will also look into the subsequent handling of the tape, and exchanges with the Israeli Government.  The Secretary-General has asked Joseph Connor, Under-Secretary-General for Management, to conduct the investigation.  Mr. Connor has been asked to report to the Secretary-General as soon as possible."

**World Population Day

Today is World Population Day and in his message to mark the occasion, the Secretary-General said that we must stabilize both the size of the world’s population and the use of resources to ensure sustainable development.  He went on to say that in order to achieve the goals of reducing poverty, slowing population growth and protecting the environment we must have universal access to education and reproductive health care and family planning.  “Enhancing women’s opportunities”, he said, “enable them to make informed choices about family size

-- and to break the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation”.

On the same theme, Thoraya Obaid, the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that when women have the choice, they have smaller families.  This means slower population growth and more time to meet basic needs and make vital decisions, she said.

We have copies of both those messages in my office.

**East Timor

Today was the deadline in East Timor for the population to contest the proposed candidates for the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections.  In addition to candidates from the 16 political parties registered, there are 17 independent national and district candidates.  Overall, almost 1,000 East Timorese are officially registered to run in the elections.  The Constituent Assembly will have 88 members, 75 elected nationally and 13 representing each of the 13 districts in East Timor.  

More details on the election campaign and other developments in East Timor are available from the briefing notes in my office.

**Iraq

An update on Iraq oil exports:  following the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding, which I mentioned to you yesterday, loadings have resumed at both authorized terminals.  Currently one tanker is loading at Ceyhan, in Turkey, and two at Mina al-Bakr.

Yesterday afternoon, the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization submitted a pricing mechanism for Iraqi crude oil for the month of July.  The pricing mechanism is up for consideration by the Security Council’s 661 Sanctions Committee by 2 p.m. today, under the "no-objection" procedure, that is to say, pending no objections to the recommendation of the United Nations oil overseers to approve or reject three sets of prices for three markets:  Europe, United States, and the Far East.

**Press Releases and Reports

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) -- this is the first of four press releases that we're highlighting for you today -- said that the increase in lives lost and young people maimed due to small arms and light weapons was “intolerable”.  UNICEF estimates that since 1990, more than 2 million have been killed -- that's 2 million children -- 6 million disabled and 20 million displaced by conflict.  Nearly 300,000 children worldwide are involved in conflicts where they are forced to use small arms to fight “adult wars”.

The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has launched an initiative to implement small, quick impact projects throughout the DRC.  An initial batch of 26 projects has been approved, ranging from agricultural rehabilitation and improving water supply to providing emergency support for war widows and children.

The third press release is from the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, which announced today the appointment of Judge Mehmet Guney of Turkey as a Judge of the Appeals Chambers for both Tribunals.  We have a press release with a bio in my office.

Finally, on the racks today are the Secretary-General’s reports on the long-term programme of support to Haiti and on strengthening the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations.

**Signings

Three treaty signings are scheduled to take place today.

This morning, Mali became the first country, and this afternoon Brazil the second, to sign the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, which I've already mentioned.

And then this afternoon, Japan will become the sixth country to sign the International Coffee Agreement.

Press Conferences

I'm told that the World Economic and Social Survey 2001 will be launched tomorrow morning at 11:15 in this room.  This is an annual publication that analyses the state of the world economy and its short-term outlook.

Ian Kinniburgh, director of the Development Policy Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, will give the briefing.

**Apologies

I apologized yesterday and I'm going to have to do it again today.  For the second day in a row, our server is not serving us and, again, we let down those who depend on the Spokesman's office Web site.  The engineers are working very hard to correct the problem.  We hope to be back on line as soon as possible.

That's all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Yes, please.

Question:  Fred, why does the Secretary-General feel it is necessary to have an internal inquiry on the UNIFIL videotape?  Also, have there been any further communications with the Israelis regarding their acceptance of conditions for seeing the tape?  Is there a possibility that families of the abducted soldiers will come to see it?

Spokesman:  Our invitation to view the edited version of the tape is the Secretary-General's final offer.  It would be up to Israel to decide the composition of the delegation that would come to view the tape.  Frankly, we would welcome it if members of the families were included in that delegation. 

The reason for the inquiry is that, frankly, the Organization was embarrassed and its credibility was hurt by what appears to be a mishandling of this event.  The Secretary-General, as a manager, wants to have a review of the circumstances under which filming is done in peacekeeping missions, and the way in which information is moved up the chain of command.  Those are two of the things that he would expect this investigation to go into.  Joseph Connor, of course, the head of management, is in his judgement the best person to conduct the investigation.

Good.  See you tomorrow.

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