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 in Geneva

The Secretary-General is still in Geneva.  He met this morning with his former Special Envoy for the Balkans, Carl Bildt, for a review of the situation in that region of the world.

Then, with Rubens Ricupero, the head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), he discussed the ongoing High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council that's taking place in Geneva and prospects for a new global round of trade liberalization talks this year.

His last appointment of the morning was with his Special Envoy for the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, who flew in from Madrid, where he gave a speech yesterday on behalf of the Secretary-General, as we mentioned to you then.  They discussed the latest developments in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the escalation of violence.  Larsen had met on Monday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as well as two special envoys -- the Russian Special Envoy, Andre Vdovin, and the European Union Special Envoy -- both for the Middle East -- Miguel Moratinos.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will travel to Rome, and from there he'll go on to Genoa for the G-8 Summit on Friday; he's expected back home on Saturday.

**Sierra Leone

Today in Sierra Leone's Kono District, the Government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) are to resume disarming their forces and to begin a total moratorium on all mining activities, in an effort to complete disarmament there by the end of this month.

Representatives of the Government, the RUF and the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) met yesterday in Bo, where they agreed to a series of measures to deal with the cease-fire violations that have taken place recently in Kono.

Oluyemi Adeniji, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Sierra Leone, witnessed the signing by the parties of a communiqué, copies of which we have available upstairs, agreeing to resume disarmament, halt mining activities and dismantle all checkpoints in Kono.

UN peacekeepers from the Bangladeshi contingent will be monitoring the resumption of the disarmament process in Kono, which had slowed to a trickle last week.

We have a press release from the UN Mission with more information. Also, yesterday afternoon, we put out a press release from the Mission with details of the freeing by the RUF of 107 children in Makeni, mainly girls, including 11 who are pregnant and many others who are recent mothers.

**Small Arms Conference

The United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects went into the night session again last evening. Delegates finished reviewing Section 2 of the draft Programme of Action shortly after midnight, and they have two more sections to review before finishing the first round of negotiations on the revised Programme.

This morning, they held an open plenary session to hear a message from Ambassador Said Djinnid, the Organization of African Unity's Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs.  The Conference also approved the report of its credentials committee before returning to closed negotiations on the draft Programme of Action.

**Kosovo

Yesterday in Kosovo, the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Tom Koenigs, provided an update to the Interim Administrative Council on a proposed regulation to introduce a mechanism to monitor inter-ethnic sales of property in some areas of Kosovo where minorities are present.

The regulation would allow the Special Representative to designate specific areas of Kosovo, particularly in multi-ethnic locales, where people selling property would be required to register any contract with the municipal administrator's office before it can be validated.  The regulation is intended to ensure that irregular sales that are detrimental to minority rights and the multi-ethnic character of Kosovo are not validated by the courts.

The Interim Administrative Council will study the draft regulation, which will be discussed at its meeting next week.

**East Timor

We have news that Indonesian officials and senior personnel from the East Timor Transitional Administration, as well as from the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNTAET) comprising the Joint Border Committee, will hold a two-day meeting in Jakarta beginning tomorrow.

Meeting participants will discuss cross border security cooperation, police cooperation, demarcation and regulation of the border, as well as cross border movement of people and goods.

Meanwhile, the campaign for the 30 August Constituent Assembly continues to gain momentum.  Yesterday, UN radio and TV broadcast live an eight-hour long debate with 15 political parties.  These media also started to broadcast campaign messages by the candidates, as part of the UN mission’s efforts to give all candidates equal media access during the campaign period.

**ICTY

From the Yugoslav Tribunal, we have word that Mira Markovic, wife of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, will be visiting the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague starting tomorrow.  For security reasons, the Tribunal will not release the precise details of her visit to The Hague, where Milosevic is currently detained.  The visit is a private one.

For further details, you can see the weekly press briefing notes from The Hague, which are available in my office.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding informal consultations this morning on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Kamel Morjane, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, has briefed Council members.  He reviewed recent political and military developments, as well as the humanitarian and social situation in the country.  He also updated Council members on the efforts to re-start navigation of the River Congo.

Kamel Morjane has agreed to talk to you at the stakeout after he finishes, and if he finishes in the next few minutes, he'll come directly into 226 here. 

**Signatures

This morning, the Holy See ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, becoming the 78th party to the Treaty.

**Press Releases

One to flag for you today.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a new Fact Sheet on Protecting Children from Ultraviolet Radiation.  Children are at high risk of suffering damage from exposure to UV radiation, which can cause skin cancer, eye damage and premature aging of the skin.  The best protection for children is protective clothing, hats and sunscreen.  The fact sheet is available in my office.  You never know what you're going to find out from the United Nations.

**Press Conferences

Today in this room at 2 p.m., Pauline Baker, the President of the Fund for Peace, and others, will give a press conference on arms brokering.  That's sponsored by the Swedish Mission. 

Then, tomorrow morning at 10:30, the World Health Organization (WHO) will give a briefing on tobacco.  But that will be in the UNCA lounge, where there's no smoking.

At 11:00, Lincoln Bloomfield, the Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in the United States Department of State, will discuss small arms issues.

Okay, that's all I have for you.  I guess Mr. Morjane is still in the Council, so we'll have to wait for him to come to the stakeout.

**Questions and Answers

Do you have any questions on a very slow news day?  Yes?

Question:  Can you confirm that the Israeli Defence Minister cancelled his trip?

Spokesman:  Yes.  That's now official.  The Secretary-General spoke to him from Geneva, and he informed the Secretary-General he would not be coming to the United States.  So that's now official, as reported by all the wires yesterday, I think.

Question:  Can you say how the negotiations on the small arms draft Programme of Action are going?

Spokesman:  No.  I'm really not the best one to ask about that.  Do you have Hiro Ueki's number?  He's handling press inquiries on small arms in the absence of Sue Markham, who's away.  If not, come to my office.  We'll give you his extension.  He used to work in the Spokesman's office; many of you probably know him.

Question:  Could you tell us something of the Secretary-General's role in the G-8 summit?

Spokesman:  I don't think we're ready to announce -- because the Italian Government hasn't yet announced -- the format for the G-8 summit.  But the Secretary-General's role, at least his public role, will primarily be in connection with his call for a Global AIDS and Health Fund.  I think that the

G-8 members are expected to announce or, in most cases I guess, reconfirm their pledges to that fund and possibly make some decisions on its management.  But I think we'll probably have more details for you on that tomorrow.

Okay.  Thank you very much.

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