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.

Because of the exceptionally beautiful weather, the Building is going to be closed in 30 minutes.  Everyone will have to begin their weekend at 12:30.  This is not the official briefing yet.  That was a joke.

Good afternoon.

**UNHCHR

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, in a breakfast meeting with journalists in Geneva earlier today, acknowledged that difficult issues did remain to be considered by the Preparatory Committee of the World Conference on Racism in Geneva, next week.

In response to a question, Ms. Robinson told the journalists:  "if there is an attempt to revive the idea of Zionism and racism, we will not have a successful conference in Durban".

Ms. Robinson added that she told this “openly to” Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

She also said there was a growing recognition at the highest political levels of the need to have a successful outcome at the Durban Conference.

The spokesman for the High Commissioner said that one of the events around the Preparatory Committee next week would be a meeting on the third of August of the Eminent Persons Group, which the High Commissioner had established to help advance the issues the Conference is dealing with.

A list of that Group, as well as a complete transcript of this press encounter, are expected from the High Commissioner’s Office in the course of the afternoon.

**Security Council

There is no meeting of the Security Council today.

On Monday, the Council will hold a formal meeting to hear a briefing on the latest developments in East Timor, at which the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is scheduled to speak.  The Secretary-General's latest report on East Timor was issued earlier this week.

Also, members of the Council have been working on a draft resolution concerning sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban movement.

**Bosnia and Herzegovina/Programme against Trafficking

The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday held a press conference to introduce its new programme to deal with that country's problems in human trafficking and prostitution.

The Special Trafficking Operations Programme, whose acronym is STOP, will involve the creation of special police units in each region of Bosnia, which would work in cooperation with the UN Mission in dealing with trafficking issues.

The UN Mission will also closely monitor allegations of local police involvement, and would conduct any internal investigations, as appropriate, if allegations were made against UN civilian or police personnel.

We have a summary of yesterday's press conference in my Office, along with a fact sheet on actions the Mission has taken so far against trafficking.

You might be interested in knowing that that STOP project is headed by one of your former colleagues, Celhia de Lavarene, who is the Mission's adviser on gender policy.

**Rwanda Tribunal

Yesterday in Belgium, a member of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's inner circle was arrested by Belgian authorities at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which has charged him with crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 genocide.

Protais Zigiranyizaro, who was the late Rwandan President's brother-in-law, is accused of having planned the massacres by collaborating with other officials in distributing arms and ordering roadblocks and subsequent killings.

He is to be transferred to the UN Detention Facility in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, once legal formalities have been completed.

We have a press release from the Tribunal on that.

**‘Oil-for-food’ Programme

The Government of Iraq has submitted its distribution plan for Phase Ten of the "oil-for-food" programme, which began on the 4th of July and will run through the 30th of November.

The distribution plan forecasts an estimated budget of $5.5 billion for the humanitarian programme, to be earned from Iraqi oil exports.  Seventy-two per cent of oil revenue goes to fund the purchases of humanitarian supplies.

The plan that was submitted by Iraq is currently under review by the Secretary-General.  Once it is approved, it will form the basis on which the Government of Iraq will contract supplies and equipment in the 15 central and southern governorates of Iraq, while the United Nations will do the same in the three northern governorates, on behalf of the Government of Iraq.  Food and medicines are purchased in bulk by the Government of Iraq for the entire country.

[Following today's briefing, the Spokesman announced that the explanation provided yesterday was wrong about why funds had been transferred to Iraq for humanitarian expenditures from the administrative account.  He had said that it had to do with the varying price of oil.  That is not correct.  It is because of savings made by the United Nations on the administrative side, he said.]

**Briefing notes from UNMEE, UNAMSIL

We have summaries of briefings conducted earlier today by two United Nations peacekeeping missions.

First, the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) reports the situation in the Temporary Security Zone remains calm.

And then, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reports that Force Commander Lieutenant General Daniel Opande is in the Kono district as part of the Mission’s ongoing efforts to encourage combatants to join the disarmament process.

**UNHCR

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which tomorrow marks the fiftieth anniversary of the main global treaty for the protection of refugees, has updates today on the situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, on contacts with Turkish and Greek authorities over reports surrounding a group of Africans allegedly dumped on the border between those two countries, and on other refugee situations in Africa.

**World Food Programme Appeal for DRC

The World Food Programme today launched an appeal for $2.1 million to fund an emergency humanitarian aid operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of its ongoing effort to widen access in that country.

And the UNHCR, meanwhile, says it has begun the delivery of urgently needed relief items to the north-eastern town of Zongo, where there are tens of thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic.

**Signatures

Signatures -- this morning, Bangladesh deposited instruments of ratification for the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, for the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and a related amendment to that Convention, and for the Agreement on the International Jute Study Group.

**Budget

We reached 100 Member States today paid in full for this year -- that's only slightly behind last year when we had 104 on this date -- and that is Bolivia, with a payment of more than $82,000 for its regular budget dues for 2001.

**Press Releases

Press releases -– we would highlight the World Health Organization's release, which is calling for an increase in the fight against influenza, which infects an estimated 100 million people each year in the northern hemisphere.  The WHO is developing a Global Agenda on Influenza to set priorities and targets to reduce death and disease caused by yearly outbreaks of the flu.

And then, there's a joint press release by the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization, which highlights a joint report on the food situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  The report says that the already precarious situation has been seriously aggravated by the spring drought, which has lasted more than three months in some places, and that a large volume of food aid will be needed in 2002. 

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan -- we have the weekly Afghan humanitarian update, which includes an item on an awareness-raising visit by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi on the plight of Afghan women and children.  Upon return home to Tokyo, the Japanese celebrity is expected to discuss her Afghanistan mission with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

**Guest at Noon

Our guest at the briefing on Monday will be Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa.  And he'll speak to you about his recent trip to Africa. 

We have no other press conferences scheduled for Monday at this time.

**The Week Ahead

And we've done The Week Ahead for you to help your planning for next week, but it doesn't get much slower than this.

Any questions?

Questions and Answers

Question:  How many refugees are in Macedonia from Kosovo right now?

Spokesman:  Sixty-two thousand is the number that comes to my head, but if you check with us right after the briefing, we'll give you the firm figure.

Question:  Mr. Haekkerup the day before said, if I'm right, that the closing of the border between Macedonia and Kosovo, as decided by the Macedonian Government, is unreasonable and unacceptable.  What had he meant by that?

Spokesman:  I think we mentioned earlier in the week that the closing of that border affects NATO's operations.  And I assume he was referring to the impact that it has on NATO and the UN, which operates in the border area.  But if you check with me after the briefing, we'll try to firm that up for you, as well.

[Immediately following the briefing, the Spokesman's Office announced that, according to the UNHCR, new arrivals from FYROM to Kosovo since February are 76,309.  Regarding restrictions caused by the closure of the border between FYROM and Kosovo, that primarily affects the freedom of movement of United Nations personnel.]

      Question:  On the unit created in Bosnia on people trafficking, what brought it about, was that the idea of Kofi Annan or the head of peacekeeping?

Spokesman:  Well, first there were increasing reports of trafficking in human beings, specifically women being brought into Bosnia from other parts of Europe, specifically Eastern Europe, often under false pretences and then being lured or forced into prostitution.  I think that this is the Mission's way of getting the Government to deal in a forceful way with this. 

I think our preliminary assumptions are that these trafficking operations are, at least in part, controlled by local mafia, so it's a major criminal challenge.  And, of course, the UN's role in Bosnia is primarily to train the police force and monitor the work of the police, and to see that they do their work in a professional and unbiased way. 

So it's a way of encouraging the Bosnian police to do what needs to be done to get a rather large criminal problem under control.

Question:  Was it not directed by the officials here, in terms of getting a handle on possible violations by members of the UN Mission?

Spokesman:  Well, I think that the head of the Mission, Jacques Klein, most likely cleared this plan with Headquarters.  You're asking whether the order came from Headquarters, and I suspect Jacques Klein came up with the idea himself.

Question:  What is the actual mandate for Mr. Klein?  He's already six years down there?  What is his mandate in Bosnia?

Spokesman:  Well, you know, it's a matter of record –- he's the head of the Mission; the mandate hasn't changed and neither has ...

Question:  For how long will he continue to stay?

Spokesman:  I'd have to check the records, but I think he was just recently extended.

Question:  Is there any update on the UNIFIL video investigation?

Spokesman:  No.  I think Mr. Joseph Connor hopes to wrap up his draft this weekend and give it to the Secretary-General to review over the weekend.  His original target was the end of the month, which is next Tuesday.  So, you'll probably be hearing from us in the first half of next week about the outcome.

Question:  On the Racism Conference, the White House said today that it might not attend the Conference if issues such as Zionism are still on the agenda.  Has the Secretary-General been involved in any way in helping resolve the disputes, has he talked to US officials, Israeli diplomats maybe, people involved in the Conference, in finding a way out of this?

Spokesman:  I don't want to get into any of the specifics.  Mary Robinson and the Secretary-General have been talking for months about the kinds of issues

that were creeping into the agenda for the Conference that could be disruptive or even derail the Conference.  And that has required a major effort on the Secretariat's part, but also among Member States themselves, to keep the Conference focused on the main issue at hand. 

You might have seen the Secretary-General make comments from time to time about keeping the Conference forward-looking.  All of these efforts have been designed to allow the Conference to succeed at its primary objective and not be derailed by very disruptive political issues.  He's made phone calls, yes.  He's been rather personally involved in supporting Mary Robinson's efforts.  And I think everyone now realizes that it's make or break as far as the planning goes; we're getting into the final planning session. 

We heard what the United States said this morning, but, of course, we've been dealing with that issue with Member States.  Mary Robinson, as I mentioned, at her press conference this morning mentioned a personal appeal she made to Yasser Arafat, who said he understood her concerns, and he, too, wanted to see the Conference succeed.

So it's a matter of getting political support from as many quarters as possible to keep this thing from going off the road.

Question:  On the UNIFIL report that the Secretary-General put out earlier this week, Lebanon has now said it objects to a plan to transform the mission from a UN force into an observer mission.  I don't even recall whether that was in the report, but what would that involve exactly? Has there been a proposal to do that?

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General said two reports ago that two out of three of the elements of UNIFIL's mandate have been accomplished.  There has always been an observer element in the UN mission in Lebanon, and that is the United Nations Observer Group consisting of unarmed observers borrowed from UNTSO in Jerusalem, which is another United Nations peacekeeping operation that, over a long period of time, has been participating in Lebanon and on the Golan Heights. 

The armed infantry elements of the Lebanon force are no longer required at the old levels, so the Secretary-General has said he will reduce the armed infantry.  And, of course, the observer presence remains the same.  So it's maybe a slight shift in emphasis, but Lebanon's objections, I think, have to be addressed to the Security Council that approved that report of the Secretary-General, two reports ago.  We're now in the process of reducing the armed elements, the armed infantry.

Okay, so enjoy that weather, huh?

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