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, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

**Secretary-General visits World Trade Center site

Good afternoon.

The Secretary-General was escorted around the World Trade Center site "Ground Zero" yesterday by New York's Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, and the New York State Governor, George Pataki.

The Secretary-General was awe-struck by the sight.  He said television pictures can't give you an idea of the magnitude and the horror.  Referring to the firefighters, police and health workers on the scene, he said, "Let's not forget, the UN is also a New York institution and all the Ambassadors and the staff there are rooting for you just as their governments around the world are."

**French President Jacques Chirac

This afternoon, at 1:30, or approximately at that time, the Secretary-General will host a working luncheon at his residence in honour of the visiting President of France, Jacques Chirac.

Following the luncheon, the two are expected to come back here to Room 226 to speak to you at around 3:30.  We’ll squawk any changes in that programme.

**Ted Turner

Early this afternoon, the Secretary-General will receive the credentials of the new Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations, John Negroponte.

A short while afterwards, he will witness Ted Turner handing over to Ambassador Negroponte a cheque for slightly over 31 million dollars -- that is of his own money -- as part of the agreement reached last December in the 5th Committee of the General Assembly on the changes to the scale of assessments for the United Nations.  There’ll be a press release on the racks later today with Ambassador Negroponte’s bio, and I’m sure you’ll all look forward to that event.

**Afghanistan

Up to 15,000 Afghans have now arrived in Quetta, Pakistan, according to the latest update from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  UNHCR has sent additional staff and thousands of tents, blankets, kitchen sets and jerrycans to Quetta.

While no new arrivals have been reported in Iran, UNHCR and the Iranian Government have pre-positioned relief supplies and are evaluating possible refugee sites along the Afghan border.

In Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan in the north, UNHCR undertook a two-day mission to the Afghan border, and reported that some 10,000 Afghans remain camped in several islands in the Pyanj River, where they have been staying for almost a year.  No new arrivals on the frontier islands have been recorded so far.

Inside Afghanistan, relief workers estimate that more than half of Kandahar's population, including many Taliban leaders, have left.  Movements of people out of the western city of Herat, near the Iranian border, have also begun.  In Kabul, movements out of the city reportedly continue.  However, few are moving in the direction of the Pakistani border.  The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan says that all United Nations flights to all locations have been temporarily suspended due to the closure of Afghan airspace, and warn that despite the efforts to provide assistance by national staff, the reality is that the humanitarian aid programme is at a dangerously low ebb.

Also on Afghanistan, for those of you who were not here, the Security Council President made a statement to the press after consultations late yesterday afternoon, demanding that the Taliban implement Council resolutions on Afghanistan immediately and unconditionally.

Today there is a letter on the racks from the Afghan President, Burhanuddin Rabbani, which the Afghan Ambassador mentioned to you during his press conference yesterday, calling for a special Council meeting to address the presence of foreign forces in his country.

**Security Council

The Security Council has no meetings scheduled for today.  Tomorrow their programme is full, however.  They’re expected to have consultations on Burundi in the morning, and a private meeting in the afternoon with the participation of the representatives of Nelson Mandela, the facilitator of the Burundi peace process.  These representatives are Judge Mark Bomani and Professor Nicholas Haysom.

The Burundi private meeting will be preceded by another private meeting.  It will be on Angola, and Fernando dos Santos, the Angolan Minister of the Interior, will address that meeting.

The Council has also scheduled a public meeting for tomorrow morning.  It will be on the Central African Republic and Council members will be briefed by the representative of the Secretary-General in that country, Lamine Cissé.  If any of you are interested in interviewing Lamine Cissé, please let us know.  You can contact Stephane Dujarric in my Office.

**Sierra Leone

For the record, the Security Council late yesterday afternoon unanimously adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the mission in Sierra Leone, the United Nations’s biggest peacekeeping force with more than 16,000 troops, through March 2002.

Meanwhile, the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone reported on the resumed meeting of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Government and the United Nations mission, which took place yesterday as scheduled in Makeni.

The meeting, chaired by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Oluyemi Adeniji, examined ways to move ahead in the disarmament process, and issues related to national recovery and stabilization.  It also reviewed a range of political issues, including the transformation of the RUF into a political party, the question of political consultation among Sierra Leoneans, the extension of Government authority, and freedom of movement of persons and goods throughout the country.

The next meeting of the three parties is scheduled for 11 October in Freetown.

**Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The UNHCR today called for a transitional international security presence before the departure of NATO forces to allow the safe return of all refugees and displaced persons in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

More details are contained in a press release issued from Skopje.

**East Timor

More than 300 refugees returned today from camps in West Timor to Covalima, East Timor. 

The return, in which the United Nations mission, the International Organization for Migration and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees played a crucial part, follows a border meeting last month between independence leader Xanana Gusmão and Covalima elders with leaders of the refugees.

More details are in the Briefing Notes from Dili, which will also tell you about the new all-East Timorese Council of Ministers, which will be sworn in tomorrow.

Yesterday we told you about the reports of the Constitutional Commissions presented by Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello to the newly-elected Constituent Assembly.  An executive summary of those reports is now available in my Office.

**United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Yesterday afternoon, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development issued its World Investment Report for 2001, which projects that world flows of foreign direct investment are likely to decline 40 per cent this year, to some 760 billion dollars.  That amount would be the largest drop in three decades, according to the report, and would result from a recent decline in cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

The report's estimates were made before last week's tragic events in the United States, and are not based on those events.

You can pick up this report at the Documents Counter.

**Press Releases

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced in Rome today that it has started emergency projects to assist drought-stricken farmers in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador.  The agency has started distributing seeds and fertilizer to about 61,000 farmers in the three countries to enable them to prepare for next season’s crops.  There’s more information in the press release.

**Note to Correspondents on Terrorism

I’d like to bring to your attention a Note to Correspondents about United Nations’ treaties against international terrorism.  The Note was just issued a few minutes ago by the Department of Public Information and it lists international agreements that provide the legal tools to combat terrorism.  There are

10 international conventions and two protocols.  The Note gives you the date of adoption, the number of States parties and the specific issue covered by each document.  The Note highlights actions by the General Assembly and the Security Council in the fight against terrorism and it also provides a list of websites with related information.  It’s available in hard copy in my Office and you can also now find it on the United Nations website.

**Press Conferences

Finally, a press conference is scheduled for tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. in this room by the International Peace Academy.  That will be to present a book entitled “Self-Determination in East Timor, the United Nations, the Ballot and International Intervention”.  At this press conference, which is sponsored by the Canadian Mission to the United Nations, will be the book’s author, Ian Martin, the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor.

That’s all I have for you.  Any questions before we go to Jan?

**Questions and Answers

Question: Just a note of clarification.  Are you going to be broadcasting this handover of the cheque that Ted Turner is going to be giving to John Negroponte?

Spokesman: Whether it will include TV or not, I’ll have to check and let you know right after the briefing.

**Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

The President of the General Assembly returned from Washington during the night and he’s presiding over a General Assembly meeting.  They are reviewing the report of the General Committee on the organization of the session and the allocation of agenda items. It’s report A/56/250.  The report also deals with the scheduling of the General Debate, and as we anticipated yesterday, the Assembly about an hour ago decided formally to reschedule the debate to future dates.  It’s premature to guess as to when it might start, but the Member States would like to fix the dates as soon as possible.

The President will meet this afternoon with the New York representative of the World Bank and then with the Foreign Minister of Kuwait.

Regarding the high-level dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation through partnership, it’s still scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday this week and the President will open and close it.  I think there are about 42, 43 speakers listed at the moment.

That’s all I have today.

**Questions and Answers

Question: How many of the world leaders that were supposed to be here came, or are coming?  Do you know?

Spokesman: I don’t know.  I know that some did not change their travel plans.

Question: The leaders of Pakistan.  You can definitely confirm they are not meeting here?

Spokesman: I do not keep track of that.

Question: Is there any possibility that this General Assembly, General Debate, will be cancelled for this year?  Can you guarantee that it will take place?

Spokesman: I cannot guarantee it, but I’m pretty certain that it will take place, and there’s a strong will in the regional groups to have this General Debate.

They want to fix those dates so they can get on with other agendas, and to find out if the Heads of State, Foreign Ministers or whatever can participate in other meetings.  And of course, the organizers of other meetings such as the Commonwealth Meeting would also like to know and get a date as soon as possible for the General Debate.

Question: What about any decision on moving up the dates of the Committees?

Spokesman: As I mentioned yesterday, they will definitely try to do that.  The General Assembly President has met with the Chairmen of the Main Committees and asked them what are the odds, what can you bring forward, do as much as you can now, and I think I mentioned yesterday that the documentation, especially for the Second, Fourth and Sixth Committee, is more or less ready, so they should be able to start next week, perhaps not on Monday, but sometime next week.  I mentioned also yesterday that for the First and the Fifth Committees it will take a bit longer before the documentation can be made available.

Question: But no firm dates?

Spokesman: No firm dates.  I will try to get some kind of feel for that and when they actually start scheduling, I’ll talk to the secretaries of the Main Committees.  In the document, in the report of the General Committee, you’ll also find something about the allocation of the items and when they are expected to start the substantive work.  But that may again change and be brought forward if they can get the documentation in time.

Question: The other two events that were scheduled for next week -– the International Criminal Court and the test-ban –- they’re both listed in today’s Journal.

Spokesman: I saw that too.  I have not heard anything about rescheduling.

Question: But yesterday you said that they were not going to be held.

Spokesman: No, I did not say that yesterday.  I said that that was still up in the air.

Question: So they are still going on?

Spokesman: We will have to wait and see.

Question: Any idea when the plenary may be discussing terrorism?

Spokesman: The item on combating international terrorism was allocated to the Sixth Committee.  I think it’s the eighth item on their agenda.  Let me just confirm that.

 Yes, it’s the eighth item on the agenda of the Sixth Committee.  If I can get any kind of indication as to when they might take that up, I’ll certainly mention it here.

Question: How many of those instruments have been ratified?

Spokesman: I’ll have to check that for you.

Question: I’m sure you’ve announced this, but who’s the Chair -- which nation -- of the Sixth Committee this year?

Spokesman: The Chairs of the Six Main Committees?  Of the Sixth Committee?  I thought I had that here, but I actually gave it to one of your colleagues, but I’ll find out.

Question: The Turner money.  Can you just explain, if you’re still up on this, what this money does?  It’s still needed obviously, I guess, and this big promise has filled a gap in the US payment?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: It does fill a gap and it was part of the internal US discussions on how to come up with the money and how much would be needed.  And at a crucial point in the negotiations, when they realized they were about $32 million short, Ted Turner said, I’ll pay that.  So he is paying that money to the US Government and the Congress agreed to receive that money for this purpose.  The US Government will then pay that money to us, we hope.

Question: How much will they pay and when?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: The amount appropriated is $582 million and of course it’s up to the Office of Management and Budget as to how much the exact cheque will be cut for, but that’s the amount we’ve been talking about all along.  When they would pay it?  You’d have to ask the United States how quickly they can cut a cheque.

Question: According to Joe Connor, he says that the United States owes in back dues and it comes to $2.8 billion.  So the $500 million is so they don’t lose their vote in the General Assembly?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: Now we’re getting into the history of the thing.  The two-plus billion dollars would include the arrears from this year, and because of the United States congressional calendar and their fiscal year, starting the first of October, they pay after the first of October what was due by the end of the previous January.  So for the first three-quarters of any year, the United States is in arrears for the current contribution, which in their mind is not in arrears because they see it in the pipeline arriving at the end of the year.

Of the remaining amount, you have peacekeeping and the regular budget. In the regular budget area, you had withholding legislation in the United States affecting about $500 million that the United States Congress called contested arrears, so that amount will not be paid is my understanding.  So the 582 is roughly 500 million short of the amount owed.  But the agreement reached in the Fifth Committee did result in the change in the assessment rate, which freed up the 582 million.  I know that doesn’t answer your question clearly, but I know this is not full payment of the arrears.  From any February first to October first, the US is in arrears for the current year because it’s programmed to do that and has been since the Reagan Administration.

Question: Just a simple follow-up on the addition.  We’re talking about

582 plus the 31.  The 31 won’t be subtracted from the 582?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: I’m not sure.  Let me double check for you.  My understanding is that –- I’m sorry, I don’t actually know.  Let me check to see whether the 582 includes the 31, which was my understanding because the

31 goes to the United States Government.  The United States Government then appropriates the 582.  I think that’s how it happens, but it’s a little complicated.  I’ll double check for you and get back to you after the briefing.

(The Spokesman’s Office later announced that the $582 million is separate from the $31 million Ted Turner is giving to the US Government.  The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on the $582 million in the coming days.)

Question: Just one quick question.  I’m getting some phone calls from NGOs that want to have briefings -- in the UNCA Club, press briefings on various issues.  And of course, NGOs can’t get in.  Is there any sense of when the NGOs get access again?

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: I’ll have to check with security and I’ll get back to you.  And I’ll squawk that too, if you like.

Thank you very much.

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