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.

**Security Council

The Security Council began its closed consultations this morning with a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Danilo Türk, on developments over the past month in Burundi.

Mr. Türk told the Council that, despite the fourth meeting of the Implementation Monitoring Committee for Burundi, which ended on Monday, and the round of ceasefire talks held in South Africa under the facilitation of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the security and humanitarian situation in the country has not changed for the better.

He noted some positive developments on the political front, including progress in the work of the Implementation Monitoring Committee and cooperation from most of the parties.  At the same time, over the past two months, close to 30,000 people have been displaced in Bujumbura-rural.

The President of the Council, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, is expected to make a statement to the press on Burundi after the consultations.

Also in this morning's consultations, the Council expects to discuss further the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestine.  Yesterday afternoon, Council members met for a little over an hour to discuss the possibility of either a presidential statement or a resolution on that issue, and those discussions are continuing today.

**Western Sahara

The Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, James A. Baker III, will meet with representatives of the Polisario Front and the Governments of Algeria and Mauritania in Pinedale, Wyoming, starting next Monday, 27 August.  Those talks will last through Wednesday, 29 August.

The meeting is organized by the Personal Envoy pursuant to the provisions of Security Council Resolution 1359 of June 29, 2001.

**Myanmar

Mr. Razali Ismail, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar, will visit Yangon from 27 to 30 August to help facilitate the talks between the Government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar.

During his visit, Mr. Razali is expected to meet with Senior-General Than

Shwe, Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), and other leaders of the Government.  He is also expected to meet with senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  This will be Mr. Razali’s fifth mission to Myanmar since he was appointed Special Envoy in April 2000.

**Kosovo

The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, has signed a regulation to ensure that all proposed contracts for property sales in certain mixed neighborhoods in Kosovo will be thoroughly reviewed by a municipal administrator before being approved.

The measure is intended to monitor inter-ethnic property sales in areas where minorities have been fleeing.  It is not intended to prevent property exchange, but to ensure that irregular sales that are detrimental to minority rights or Kosovo's multi-ethnic character are not validated by the courts.

We have a press release with more details on that if you are interested.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The preparatory talks for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue have wrapped up today in Gaberone, Botswana, under the facilitation of the former President of Botswana, Ketumile Masire.

The talks have gone well, and the parties have agreed on October 15 as the date for the beginning of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue itself.  A venue for that Dialogue has not yet been decided, but the question of a venue and an agenda is to be determined within the next 15 days.

**Sierra Leone

The Acting United Nations Force Commander in Sierra Leone, Major General Martin Agwai, yesterday led an assessment team to Kono and Koinadugu to evaluate the progress of the disarmament process in those two districts.

The team from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) determined that the disarmament exercise in Kono has been completed successfully, and that progress has been made in Koinadugu, where disarmament is supposed to conclude by 31 August.

We have more details in the Mission report.

**Ethiopia-Eritrea

The Secretary-General's Special Representative for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, yesterday visited that Mission's central sector to meet with the sector's senior military and police officials about the progress of the Organization's work there.  In each of his four stops in that sector, Mr. Legwaila was told about the problem of cattle rustling, which has caused tensions, and of efforts by the Indian battalion to bring the involved people together to resolve that problem.

We have a lengthy transcript of today's press briefing from the Mission with details on that and other subjects.

**United Nations Policeman Indicted for Rape in East Timor

A civilian police officer was indicted on Tuesday by the East Timor Prosecutor General on charges of raping an East Timorese woman in a hotel room, the United Nations Mission announced today.

The suspect was arrested on 5 of July and has been in detention since.  The trial will take place in the Dili District Court.

**Refugee News

In today’s briefing notes from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) we have news that 5,000 Somali refugees returned home from camps in eastern Ethiopia this week.  Another 1,000 will leave the Daror camp tomorrow, headed for the drop-off point in northwest Somalia and from there they will be returned to their villages of origin.  Tomorrow’s convoy will bring the number of refugees repatriated this year to 35,000.  Each family of returnees will be given a package of domestic items and a nine-month supply of food.  UNHCR expects the Daror camp to be closed by the end of this year.

In other news, about 150 Liberian refugees have fled the northern Lofa County in the last few days, after renewed fighting in the area.  The refugees arrived in the Macenta area of southeastern Guinea and UNHCR and local authorities have transferred them to a nearby camp.

**Racism Conference

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has announced that documents for the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which is due to start in Durban, South Africa next Friday, have been posted on their Web site.  Among the documents are the Draft Declaration, Draft Programme of Action and the provisional Agenda.  The Web site can be found at www.unhchr.ch

**Press Conferences

There are no press conferences scheduled for today and none for Monday

27 August.

**The Week Ahead

We have a short week ahead for you.

Saturday, 25 August

The Secretary-General goes to Salzburg, Austria, tomorrow where he will begin an official visit.

Wednesday, 29 August

On Wednesday the Council will hold consultations on Afghanistan.

Thursday, August 30

The Security Council will hold an open briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And I will be with the boss next week.  Marie Okabe, the Associate Spokesman will be in charge here from Monday for a couple of days until the Deputy Spokesman, Manoel De Almeida e Silva returns.

Are there any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Is the United Nations closed on Labour Day?

Spokesman:  Yes, Labour Day is a United Nations holiday.

Question:  What was the nationality of the civilian police officer arrested for rape in East Timor?

Spokesman:  We do not give out nationalities or identify the person charged. 

Question:  There are reports out of Washington that the United States will be sending a delegation to the upcoming Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa.  Does the Secretary-General have any reaction to that?

Spokesman:  I think he would be very pleased, although I have not spoken to him directly about it.  His hope is that the United States would participate and try to gather support for its position –- in other words to become a political player like every other delegation in Durban.  And I think he would also hope that the results of those exchanges would be something positive and forward-looking so that racism can be dealt with firmly and creatively in the future.

Thank you very much.  Enjoy your weekend.

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