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

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.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

**Briefing on the United Nations Financial Situation

You all know Joseph Connor, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, who’s today’s guest. He’ll be briefing you on the United Nations financial picture, which he presented to the General Assembly's Fifth Committee last week.

You’ll see on the Secretary-General’s programme for today that at 3 o’clock, he will present to that Committee the UN budget for 2002-2003. We hope to make available to you his speech to the Fifth Committee once it has been delivered.

**Afghanistan

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, has arrived at United Nations Headquarters and has begun consultations. He will meet with the Secretary-General this afternoon.

We have tentatively scheduled Mr. Brahimi to be our guest at the noon briefing here on Wednesday. We will keep you posted.

The Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, is also here for meetings.

In the field, United Nations humanitarian agencies working in Afghanistan appealed to all parties to respect the rights of civilians against the backdrop of missile strikes, the increasing lack of security in some Afghan cities and the breakdown in law and order in some areas.

The Spokesman for the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan said civilians, including aid workers, also must be protected from attacks, harassment, threats and looting from elements within Afghanistan itself. The task ahead for the international community is already daunting enough, and the aid effort is nowhere close to where it needs to be to save lives, in what is now the most serious complex emergency in the world.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reported that a bomb exploded this morning near a warehouse in Afsotar on the northern edge of Kabul. Some shrapnel hit one of the casual labourers loading wheat on a truck. The worker was not seriously injured and was taken to the hospital conscious.

WFP called on all parties to do their very best to respect humanitarian workers, and their premises and their need for security in carrying out their work.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that as many as 100,000 more children will die this winter inside Afghanistan, if aid does not reach them

in sufficient quantities in the next few weeks.  That figure is in addition to the almost 300,000 Afghan children who already die each year.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that Afghans are reportedly resorting to smuggling routes to leave Afghanistan. Costs are rising almost by the day, it said.

You can read more about the humanitarian situation from the briefing that was given in Islamabad earlier today.

**Security Council

The Security Council has not scheduled any meetings for today. However, for tomorrow plans call for consultations on Burundi, Angola and Afghanistan.

I would also like to call your attention to an exchange of letters out on the racks. In a letter, dated 12 October, to the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Richard Ryan of Ireland, the Secretary-General proposes the extension of the mandate of the UN Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau, until 31 December 2002. On the same date, Ambassador Ryan told the Secretary-General that Council members had taken note of his proposal.

**Somalia

In his latest periodic report to the Security Council on Somalia, the Secretary-General says that the process of rebuilding national institutions in that country should go forward with strong and impartial efforts at local reconciliation. To help that process, the Secretary-General intends to consult with all concerned parties on setting up a Committee of Friends of Somalia, which could bring together interested countries and organizations in the search for a lasting peace.

He notes that, in recent weeks, challenges to local political authorities in “Somaliland” and “Puntland” have led to uncertainty regarding the political stability of those regions. In addition, he says that an estimated 750,000 people are in need of international assistance in Somalia to cover food shortfalls stemming from past harvest failures.

The Secretary-General concludes that it is not possible at present to recommend the deployment of a post-conflict peace-building mission in Somalia, although he intends to submit a detailed proposal to the Security Council once the situation there improves sufficiently.

**Angola Sanctions

The latest report by the Monitoring Mechanism dealing with the enforcement of Security Council sanctions against the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) is out on the racks today, and reports that the Council resolution on Angolan sanctions continues to be violated.

The Monitoring Mechanism, headed by Ambassador Juan Larrain of Chile, was informed that between $1 million and $1.2 million of embargoed diamonds leave Angola each day, with smuggled Angolan diamonds constituting an estimated 5 per cent of the world supply of rough diamonds last year.

In its effort to find how the smuggled diamonds leave Angola, the Mechanism says "it appears that the Antwerp and South African markets are two key points of sale or transit for embargoed diamonds, Israel being used as a laundering route for some imports".

The report says that there is a need to establish a permanent capability of the Security Council to ensure continued monitoring of targeted sanctions regimes. It also urges all countries to close possible loopholes that UNITA can exploit.

In addition to the Angola report, there is a report by the Secretary-General out today on steps taken by the Liberian Government to improve its capacity in air traffic control and surveillance, in compliance with another Security Council sanctions resolution. He notes that efforts are being made by the Liberian authorities to reform their civil aviation administration, involving the assistance of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

**High Commissioner for Human Rights

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson addressed the opening of the seventy-third session of the Human Rights Committee meeting in Geneva.

Referring to the 11 September attacks on the United States, the High Commissioner said the United Nations is uniquely positioned to advance the efforts and to shape the fight against terrorism.

Robinson said she shared the concerns voiced in a number of countries, including by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), over some of the provisions contained in the 28 September Security Council terrorism resolution relating to refugees and asylum seekers.

She also emphasized that the terror attacks were the acts of individuals and “should not bring about retribution against one people, or one religion”.

In addition, the High Commissioner expressed her deep concern for the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people. “As winter approaches”, Robinson said, “an estimated 7.5 million are at risk from starvation unless food and humanitarian assistance reaches them”.

The full text of her speech is available upstairs.

**International Conference on Financing for Development

The resumed third session of the Preparatory Committee for the International Conference on Financing for Development began this morning in Conference Room 2, and will continue until Friday, 15 October. A press release and a copy of the draft negotiating text have been distributed to you here. Reporters can observe the PrepCom from Conference Room 2 in the gallery, which you would enter from the first floor, and of course your contact on that is Tim Wall.

**Inter-Congolese Dialogue

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amos Namanga Ngongi, traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the meeting of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, which began today.

We have been informed that the meeting is expected to get under way shortly. The opening had been scheduled for earlier this morning, but it was delayed due to the late arrival of some of the delegations.

The dialogue brings together representatives of various groups from within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the former President of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire, acting as the facilitator of this process. 

**Budget

Budget news. We got $31 million today, as Joe knows, from the United States. This is a one-time payment that accounts for the gap between the old and the new United States assessment, and that’s to give other States a year to adjust their own budgets. Ted Turner had offered to pay this money, which he recently handed over to the United States Government.

**Signings

Signings today. Two more countries have signed the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism today. They are Australia and Ireland. The number of signatories is now 61.

[The Spokesman’s Office later announced that Sweden would sign the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism Convention this afternoon, bringing the total number of signatories to 62.]

**Press Releases

In our first press release today, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says in a new report that, at the current rate, it will take 60 years to halve the number of hungry people in the world, although the 1996 World Food Summit and the Millennium Summit last year set 2015 as the target for that goal.

Tomorrow is World Food Day, and to commemorate the occasion, the FAO and the European Parliament will hold a round-table discussion in Rome to review strategies and recommendations to fight hunger and poverty.

The last press release we want to flag for you is from the World Health Organization (WHO), which confirmed that the first shipment of tuberculosis drugs has arrived in the Republic of Moldova. The drugs are being provided through a global TB partnership initiative and will assist in the treatment of 4,000 people.

There are no press conferences today and none so far scheduled for tomorrow.

That’s what I have for you. Anything before we go to Jan?

**Questions and Answers

Question: The Suppression for the Financing of Terrorism. Is there an increase in the number of ratifications? At the beginning of the month, there were only four.

Spokesman: You’ll have to check. I don’t have the number with me. Check with Nancy in my office. She’ll give you the ratification number. [He later said ratifications stood at four.]

Question: You mentioned that Mr. Brahimi might brief us on Wednesday. I’m wondering if there’s some way either we could contact him or some way we could get access to him, or get a read-out from him on his meeting with the Secretary-General today -- what he’s up to?

Spokesman: I don’t think he wants to brief you on a regular basis as to his actions. As you know, he’s not giving any interviews following his meetings in Geneva, London and Paris. While he’s here in the United States he’ll also have consultations with the United States authorities. Wednesday is the earliest he would agree to meet with you, and as we said that’s not a firm commitment, it’s a tentative commitment. So I don’t think he wants to be called. I don’t think he wants to talk to individual journalists.

Question: How about a read-out from you?

Spokesman: I can try to get a read-out, but again we’re trying not to give you little bits and pieces of a rather important developing story. We’d prefer that he brief you fully on Wednesday.

Question: I think you mentioned some letters. Was one of them from the former Afghan king, Zahir Shah? He apparently reports from Rome that he’s asked the Secretary-General to ensure that a multinational peacekeeping force is sent to Afghanistan after the Taliban loses power. I was wondering whether there’s been any response or any awareness that that’s been received.

Spokesman: That was not one of the letters that I mentioned, and I’m not aware that such a letter has been received. But I’ll check to see if it has. As for the sending of troops, of course that would be for the Security Council to deal with, not the Secretary-General. [He later announced that the letter had been received late Friday and had been circulated in the Security Council today.]

Question: There have been some reports that letters have come with suspicious powders to the United Nations and elsewhere in New York. Based on that, can you comment on what might be changing in terms of the mailroom or security precautions?

Spokesman: There were two suspicious envelopes that came in last week. They both tested negative, so it’s the work of pranksters, I guess. The United Nations Security Service does have some new procedures on handling your mail and we’re trying to arrange for them to brief you later today in the UNCA Club. I think we contacted UNCA this morning about that. Otherwise, I don’t think we want to comment on security procedures.

Question: Does the same hold true for Mr. Vendrell, in terms of talking to him?

Spokesman: I don’t think he wants to pre-empt his new boss, but I’d leave it to him to decide whether he would want to speak to any of you privately. If you’d like to ask Marie in my office, she might know how to reach him.

Question: To whom were the two envelopes addressed?

Spokesman: I don’t know. One came into an office I believe in the UNICEF building. It was ripped open, powder spilled out and it was thrown away. When the person who did that, then became aware of the anthrax threat, she reported it to Security. She was tested and found negative. The second I believe came into this building just addressed to the United Nations. For whatever reason, it was identified as a suspicious packet. It was not opened. It was thought there was powder in it and it was sent off to United States authorities for testing, and we found out, either over the weekend or first thing this morning, that that test was negative also.

Question: Any decision by the Secretary-General over how he will use the Nobel Prize money?

Spokesman: No, it’s a little too early. We’re giving it a lot of thought, but too early to announce a decision.

Question: I thought he was going to turn it over to Mr. Connor for the gap.  Can you describe President Bush, the Secretary-General and phone calls which picked up late last week? I don’t know if you talked about that Friday. I don’t know if there was a noon briefing. Regarding Afghanistan. What’s being asked of the Secretary-General?

Spokesman: I have nothing to give you about that telephone call.

Question: Did he call to congratulate on Friday?

Spokesman: I think there was a phone from both President Bush and Secretary of State Powell on Friday. I’ve got the list in my office if you want to check. But phone calls have come in from heads of State and ministers all Friday and all through the weekend. It’s rather a long list. And I don’t have it with me.

Question: Just on this UNICEF letter. So the person who received it was tested, but the powder was never retrieved from the garbage, or was the powder retrieved from the garbage?

Spokesman: I was just corrected by Joe to say that it was not the UNICEF building but the UNDP building.

Under-Secretary-General for Management: In the FF building with a UNDP staff member. We’ll get it right yet.

Spokesman: As far as I know, it was thrown away. Had it tested positive, we might have had a bigger problem. Staff in the meantime, as you may know, have been informed about the possibility of these kinds of things coming through the mail and have been given very strict guidance on how to deal with them.

Question: Could you give any description of the letters or what was contained in the envelopes in addition to the…?

Spokesman: Was it talcum powder? No, I didn’t get any of those details. I don’t know how the letters looked.

Question: Could you just give us the precise days that they arrived? Did they arrive on the same days and which days did they arrive?

Spokesman: I think the one into the United Nations building was Friday [he later corrected that to be Thursday] and the one into the UNDP building the previous Wednesday.

Under-Secretary-General for Management: Either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Spokesman: Tuesday or Wednesday for the UNDP building and [Thursday] for the United Nations building.

Question: The UNDP letter was addressed to an individual?

Spokesman: I don’t know who that was addressed to. I’m sorry.

Question: Do you know how many pieces of mail the United Nations gets every day?

Spokesman: No. We can probably find out for you. [He later announced it is about 20,000 per day.]

Question: There is a war going on, but do you feel the story of the United Nations winning the Nobel Prize, do you feel that got the proper coverage it deserved in major media in the United States?

Spokesman: I think it got a healthy amount of coverage and the editorial response seemed welcoming. I think it was flattering for the Secretary-General and encouraging for the United Nations itself, so I have no complaints.

Question: So you can’t say whether the letters accompanying these two envelopes contained threats or anything negative about the United Nations?

Spokesman: I’m not aware. I don’t have any of these details. All that was reported to me was that they contained a powdery substance. One was opened, the other was not.

Question: Following up on that, maybe you don’t have this either, but the return address? Was there anything about where it was postmarked from?

Spokesman: No one told me anything about a return address.

Question: I don’t know if you mentioned this earlier. There was an exchange of fire between India and Pakistan forces near Kashmir today. Is the Secretary-General concerned? Is there a statement?

Spokesman: We just saw the press reports at about 11 o’clock. So I don’t have a reaction yet for you.

Okay, Jan, what do you have for us today?

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

**Security Council Report

Today, at 10, the General Assembly met in plenary to review the report of the Security Council (document A/56/2). Ireland, as President of the Security Council for the month of October, introduced the report. There are 51 other Member States on the speakers’ list, so the debate on this agenda item will probably go into Tuesday afternoon.

**General Debate

The provisional list of speakers for the general debate is now available. I have copies here and there are also copies at the documents counter upstairs. You will note that we have 23 heads of State and 13 heads of government so far. Remember it’s a provisional list.

**Special Session on Children

Regarding the dates for the Special Session on Children, we are still getting feedback from the Member States, but I hope that early next week we should be able to confirm some dates for that session.

**Financing for Development

Fred already mentioned the PrepCom for Financing for Development. I should also mention that a working group under the Sixth Committee took up the issue of international terrorism this morning. The meetings of this working group are closed.

That’s what I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: You were going to look into arranging a briefing with the Chair of that Committee?

Spokesman: I have been trying over the last couple of days and we’ve run into problems all the time -- either the room is not available or UNCA has an arrangement. I was hoping for tomorrow but it turns out that there’s a WHO briefing from 1:15 to 2:45 tomorrow, but I’ll keep you posted.

Question: What’s the latest on the General Assembly? Do you know how many people are coming?

Spokesman: On the general debate?

Yes.

Spokesman: I have a list and I can give you a copy afterwards. I don’t have a total of the number who will be speaking during the general debate. But as I mentioned, 23 heads of State and 13 heads of government so far.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: Okay. I was just given a correction. It was Thursday, not Friday, that we found the envelope coming into this building. Thursday, not Friday. That was the day of the Dag Hammarskjöld Fellows lunch, right? Was that Thursday?

Correspondent: Yes.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General: Yes, because I left that early when I got word.

Okay, Joe, welcome to the briefing.

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