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 Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.  I'm sorry I'm a little late today.

**Secretary-General Concludes Austria Visit

The Secretary-General, in an address opening the Salzburg Dialogue Among Civilizations earlier today, described one objective of the World Conference Against Racism, which is scheduled to begin in South Africa later this week, as reinvigorating the fight against intolerance.  "Just as people can be taught to hate," he said, "so they can learn to treat others with dignity and respect."

"The United Nations,” he said, "at its best, can be a forum where the dialogue among civilizations can flourish."  He added:  "One of the main lessons of the United Nations first half century is that without such dialogue, no peace can be lasting and no prosperity can be secure."

The opening session of the Salzburg Dialogue was also addressed by Wolfgang Schüssel, the Austrian Federal Chancellor, and by the Austrian Foreign Minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

The Secretary-General and the Federal Chancellor then met privately for discussions that focused primarily on the current Middle East situation and efforts to restore peace to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as how to bolster Balkan security in the longer term.

The Secretary-General conferred with his Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, before meeting with Rauf Denktash for more than an hour.  A statement was issued by his spokesman following the meeting, which I will read:

“The Secretary-General today met with His Excellency, Mr. Rauf Denktash, in Salzburg, Austria, as part of efforts for the resumption of talks.  They had a very good and very useful meeting.

“The Secretary-General has asked his Special Adviser on Cyprus, Mr. Alvaro de Soto, to travel tomorrow to the island for consultations with both His Excellency Mr. Glafcos Clerides and Mr. Rauf Denktash.

“There is nothing further to announce at this time.  At the conclusion of his visit on 5 September, Mr. Alvaro de Soto will hold a press conference.”

The Secretary-General then left Salzburg, and Austria, to fly overnight to Durban, South Africa, where he will open the United Nations Conference on Racism on Friday.

**Racism Conference

Concerning the Conference, the Secretary-General said today in Austria prior to his departure during a press encounter that he hoped all governments would participate at the highest level, adding that “it is also clear that the decision to participate or not and whom to send is a sovereign right of each country.”

In relation to the participation of the United States in the Conference, the Secretary-General told reporters that he hopes that the United States will participate and “that they will come and sit down with other governments to move the process forward, to fight for their common ground and to get the right language.”

Meanwhile in Durban, with just a few days to go before the official opening of the Conference, High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson addressed the 7,000 people attending the Non-Governmental Organization Forum organized in conjunction with the Conference.

The High Commissioner saluted the efforts made by the NGOs in the preparation of the Conference.  “Your efforts have helped ensure that the topics to be addressed by this world conference will be broad,” she said.

The full text of her speech is available upstairs.

**Security Council

As you all know the Security Council is holding an open meeting today.  The subject is Kosovo.

The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, briefed on preparations for the November elections and the handover to provisional self-government institutions, as well as on efforts to improve law and order, engage minority communities in public life and undertake confidence-building measures to bridge the gap among the different communities. 

The Under-Secretary-General expressed hope that the clear signals from Belgrade calling on Kosovo Serbs to register for the elections -- notably those by President Kostunica and Prime Minister Djindjic -- will lead Kosovo Serbs to register in greater numbers.

All Council members are expected to speak along with Belgium, Yugoslavia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) for Refugees reported today that around 900 refugees went back from Kosovo to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia yesterday, that's Monday, in the largest return in recent days.  Nearly 30,000 have now returned from Kosovo.  More than 50,000 still remain there.

Upstairs we have available Mr. Guéhenno's briefing, as well as the UNHCR summary of the refugee flow situation, which I just mentioned to you.

**East Timor

The Secretary-General's Special Representative in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today praised the people of East Timor for conducting a violence-free electoral campaign, and, echoing appeals from the United Nations Secretary-General and the Security Council, urged all East Timorese to exercise their right to vote.

Speaking at press conference in Dili, Mr. Vieira de Mello said that “the East Timorese people have given us a lesson in democracy and in maturity."

In addition, he said that he hoped to announce the new, all-East Timorese Transitional Cabinet on 15 September, the same day the newly elected Constituent Assembly will be sworn in, and that he intends to appoint an East Timorese Chief Minister who will take over the running of the day-to-day affairs of the Government.

Today is the final day of the electoral campaign, as tomorrow is designated as a “cooling-off” day ahead of Thursday’s Constituent Assembly elections.

We have more upstairs in the briefing notes from Dili, as well as the full transcript of Mr. Vieira de Mello's comments.

**Colombia

The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees today highlights the significant increase in the number of asylum seekers from Colombia around the world this year.  UNHCR attributes this increase to the deterioration of the conflict in Colombia over the past 12 months.

In Europe and North America, Colombians now represent the 12^th largest nationality requesting asylum -- up from a ranking of 21^st for the first six months of last year.

There's more in UNHCR's briefing notes on this subject.

Also on Colombia, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for that country, Jan Egeland, is back in Colombia on one of his regular visits.  This is just to inform you that tomorrow he is scheduled to hold a press conference in Bogota at 11:45 a.m. Bogota time, which is, I’m told, 12:45 p.m. New York time.

**Iraq

On Iraq, according to the weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme, there was a noticeable increase in the volume of Iraqi oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food programme in the week ending 24 August.  At an average rate of 2.4 million barrels a day, Iraq exported 16.8 million barrels of oil, compared with the previous weekly volume of 13.9 million barrels during two consecutive weeks.

So far into the current phase ten of the programme, which runs from 4 July to 30 November of this year, Iraq has exported 96.3 million barrels of oil.  There are altogether 98 approved oil purchase contracts in the phase for the lifting of 282 million barrels of oil.

The full text of the Office of the Iraq Programme's Weekly Update is available upstairs.

**UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, is on an official visit to Mozambique.

This morning he visited Gaza Province, which was severely affected by floods last year.  With funding from the Italian Government, UNDP has put in place a programme there to encourage the population to move from low-lying, flood-prone areas to safer locations on higher ground.  The programme has provided people with wells and waterpipes, as well as tools and basic construction supplies to build new homes on higher ground.

Tomorrow, Mr. Malloch Brown is scheduled to meet with the President of Mozambique, Joachim Chissano.

And Wednesday afternoon he travels to South Africa where he will also participate in the Conference on Racism.

**Death of Lars Franklin

We have a note from the United Nations Information Centre in Colombia.  They asked us to report on the death of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system there, Mr. Lars Franklin, who is from Sweden.  He died of natural causes over the weekend.  There is a little note on that subject upstairs.

**Signing

The Permanent Representative of Ecuador will be signing the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants this afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

And again, for today and tomorrow, we have no press conferences scheduled.

And that's all I have for you today.  Any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  There is a letter from the Cuban delegation regarding the blocking of the Mission's account by the Host Country.  As the depository of the Headquarters Agreement, does the Secretary-General have a comment on that?

Associate Spokesman:  I'll have to look into that and get back to you after the briefing.

[The Associate Spokesman later announced that a series of letters to the Committee on Relations with the Host Country, which took up the matter, was available in the Spokesman's Office.]

Question:  Do you have any details on the reported clash between Burundi's army and the rebels, apparently coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Associate Spokesman:  I've received no first-hand reports from the United Nations Mission on fighting there today.  But again, if I see anything, I'll let you know.

Question:  Do you expect anything from Pinedale today or tomorrow?

Associate Spokesman:  As you know, the talks started on Monday and are expected to last through Wednesday.  We're hoping to have some kind of an update after the conclusion of the talks.  We'll keep you informed.

Question:  The Secretary-General is expected to address the non-governmental organization parallel conference in Durban.  Do you have the text of his address to the NGOs?

Associate Spokesman:  We will be making available his text for the opening address at the Durban Conference.  That should be done in the next couple of days.  [The Associate Spokesman later announced that the Secretary-General's speech to the NGO parallel conference in Durban would be made available later in the week.]

Any other questions?  Have a good afternoon.

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