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.

We have seven visiting journalists from Haiti.  Welcome to the briefing.  That makes nine people, here.

**Security Council

The Security Council began a formal meeting today at 10 o'clock on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Secretary-General addressed the Council and paid tribute to his outgoing Special Representative, Kamel Morjane, for bringing the parties back to the path of negotiation and giving the people of the DRC new hope.  The Secretary-General also noted that the restoration of peace and stability will ultimately rest on the success of the inter-Congolese dialogue.

As you know, Morjane briefed the Council last week in informal consultations on developments in that country.  Today, he thanked the Council members for their commitment to the peace process.  Morjane also highlighted the need for the parties to engage in dialogue and the importance of disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, reintegration and resettlement of armed groups.

Both the Secretary-General and the Special Representative's statements are available in my office, and the formal meeting is continuing now with speeches by delegates from Member States.

**UNHCR/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says it is deeply disturbed by reports that Slavs in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are fleeing ethnic Albanian areas of that country.

Eric Morris, UNHCR’s special envoy for the region, said the refugee agency has been concerned about the possible separation of ethnic populations in FYROM since the beginning of the conflict earlier this year.

He said, “it was not my feeling that ‘ethnic cleansing’ was the intent of the conflict, but if there’s going to be a separation of the population, the consequences could be the same.  It can spiral out of control.  And if a community believes it was forcibly expelled, enormous barriers will be created for any eventual return.”

The UN Mission in Kosovo, meanwhile, has just informed us that the border between Kosovo and FYROM has been closed.  We have no further information at this time.

**UNHCR/Afghanistan

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, again, today voiced its worry about recent outbursts of violence that have been directed against Afghan

refugees living in Iran.  Last week, a number of people were injured when anti-Afghan protestors rampaged in a neighbourhood south of the capital, Teheran, with some shouting, "death to Afghans".

That is the second recent demonstration of anti-Afghan sentiment, following an attack on the sixth of July against Afghans in Falavarjan, in the province of Isfahan.  UNHCR attributes the recent outbreaks of violence to anger among some Iranians who believe the Afghans are taking their jobs.

UNHCR hopes that the violence will subside and that its regular screening and voluntary repatriation operations in Iran will resume shortly.

We have more in a report from UNHCR.

**Oil-for-Food Programme

The weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme shows a strong rise in Iraqi oil exports under the UN "oil-for-food" programme.  Last week, Iraq exported oil at an average rate of 2.27 million barrels per day, for a total of 15.9 million barrels in the week from 14 to 20 July. 

The value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Council's 661 Sanctions Committee rose slightly to $3.47 billion, up from the previous week's total of $3.4 billion. 

You can get the full text in my office.

**Ethiopia/Eritrea

Yesterday in Asmara, a course to educate people who will train UN military and civilian staff as well as the Eritrea Defence Force (EDF) on HIV/AIDS issues was officially opened by Ian Martin, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General. 

This training programme is intended to strengthen the capacity of each contingent of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea to deal with AIDS, by increased access to condoms for all Mission staff, and HIV/AIDS counselling and testing services, among other steps.

The joint effort by the UN Mission and the Eritrean Defence Force is part of a major UN effort to ensure that the issue of HIV/AIDS is addressed by UN Peacekeeping Operations.  We have additional details in a press release.

**Internal Videotape Investigation

Joseph Connor, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, left Lebanon today.  He should be in the air now, returning to New York this evening.

He interviewed members of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon in connection with his internal investigation into the taking of a videotape of two vehicles thought to have been involved in the abduction of three Israeli soldiers on the Israeli-Lebanese border last October.

He still hopes to finish his report by the end of the month.

**Special Court in Sierra Leone

Available on the racks today is a letter from the Security Council President, Wang Yingfan, to the Secretary-General, noting the Secretary-General's plans to move forward with a special court for Sierra Leone.

The members of the Council welcome the Secretary-General's proposals and support the process of regular informal consultations between the Secretariat and a group of interested States to continue planning for the court.  They intend to use their best efforts to encourage donor States to expedite the transfer of funds to a trust fund that has been established for the special court.

**Miles Stoby Appointment

The Secretary-General today appointed Miles Stoby as Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services, and that's with effect from 1 August.

Stoby served most recently as Coordinator for the Millennium Assembly and has also worked with the United Nations International Partnership Trust Fund, and as Deputy Executive Coordinator for United Nations Reform.  A former diplomat, he joined the Secretariat in 1978 in the Office of the Director-General for Development and International Economic Cooperation.

He is a national of Guyana, is married and has three daughters.  He replaces Federico Riesco who retires at the end of this month.

We have a press release with more details.

**Global AIDS and Health Fund

Following up on a question from yesterday about the total amount of money in the Global AIDS and Health Fund, we can now confirm donations made by Russia and Italy at the end of last week, on 20 and 21 July.  And, the total of the Fund now stands at just under $1.4 billion.  We have a complete list of all donors on our Web site.

**Art Auction to Benefit UNICEF

In Geneva today, the spokesman for UNICEF announced that the organization will benefit from an unprecedented bequest of masterpieces by Picasso, Miro and Leger that will be auctioned in New York on the sixth of November in Rockefeller Center. 

The art collections are expected to generate $40 million to UNICEF.  The collections were bequeathed to UNICEF by the late Belgian businessman René Gaffé in an unprecedented gift of charity.

**Press Releases

Press releases –- one that we would highlight today from the United Nations Environment Programme that says on the first day of a meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol dealing with the ozone layer, that tighter controls are needed for ozone-destroying chemicals. 

Klaus Toepfer, UNEP'S Executive Director, said major concerns include the illegal trade in controlled substances and the marketing of new ozone-depleting chemicals not yet covered by the Protocol. 

The three-day meeting of the Protocol’s open-ended working group, which is taking place in Montreal, will also look at reducing emissions from ozone-depleting chemicals and will review applications for essential-use exemptions.

That's all I have.

**Questions and Answers

Question: On the Global AIDS Fund, is there an actual account set up or are these just pledges in principle?

Spokesman: I have to check on that for you.  Our intention was to set up some kind of an interim account so that we could actually receive funds prior to the official Fund, itself, being set up.  And, of course, the Secretary-General is pressuring everyone to get this Fund established by the end of this year.  Whether we've actually opened an account or not, let me double check with Mr. Connor's office and get back to you after the briefing.

[At the end of the briefing, the Spokesman said that it is possible to make contributions now, either by making a check out to the United Nations Foundation or wiring it through the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  This information is on the Web site.  It does seem to be up and running, on an interim basis, he said, at least until the Fund is established.]

Question:  Do you have any more information on the interviews conducted by Joseph Connor, such as how many and what countries those were from?

Spokesman: No, I don't think we're going into any of that kind of detail.  You know, of the half dozen people working with him -- you have some working here in New York going through documentation -- you had a couple who left for the region early last week who have been talking to people and reviewing documentation in the region.  Now, Mr. Connor, himself, has spent a couple of days reviewing the work that was covered by his people there since the beginning of the week and talking with a number of key actors himself.  But, I don't think we would give you any numbers.

Question: Fred, is there any reaction by the UN on this measure in the people of the Utah town of La Verken to declare itself a UN-free zone?

Spokesman: My understanding is that this is an issue between La Verken and the Utah Attorney General.  It's a constitutional issue, so I wouldn't want to comment on it.  I would just hope that the people of La Verken would see the United Nations for what it really is –- an intergovernmental organization working for the betterment of humankind, and not a threat to the people of La Verken.

Question: Will the Connor report be made public when it's done?

Spokesman: I don't know the specific way it will be handled.  I'll just repeat what I said, maybe two weeks ago, now, that the Secretary-General would want this matter handled with transparency.  And, a final decision, I think, will be made only after we review Mr. Connor's report.

Question: On the videotape, what is the status of conversations with the Israelis, if any, about this?  An Israeli official today criticized the Connor mission.  Are they going to come see the tape, is the Defence Minister coming, are there discussions going on, anything moving on that?

Spokesman: The criticism today was a little hard to understand.  As I saw it reported, it was a criticism of Mr. Connor for not going to Israel, and the conclusion drawn was that he, therefore, didn't want to see evidence that the Israelis had.  The Israelis expressed interest in Mr. Connor visiting while he was in the region, last Friday.  The Deputy Permanent Representative of Israel asked to see Mr. Connor on Friday to extend this invitation. 

Mr. Connor explained that the terms of reference of his mission are to look into what the peacekeepers did, and that he, therefore, would not be meeting with any representatives of government.  He did tell the Deputy Permanent Representative, though, on Friday, that if any government had information that they felt was relevant to his investigation, he would be happy to receive it.

Question (asked in French and translated unofficially at the briefing): You have spoken about problems of violence around the world.  To what would you attribute that violence?

Spokesman: I think as you go from place to place, you'll find that the sources of violence vary.  But, one thing I think that you can point to as a universally destabilizing factor is poverty.  Another would be inequity.  And, so the United Nations attempts as best it can to address these two issues as a means of bolstering social order.

Thank you very much.

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