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

Good afternoon.

The guest at the briefing today will be Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.  I see we have interpretation in the back.  There may well be questions in French, so if you don’t have both French and English at your command, please pick up a little unit from the entry there.

**Middle East

We’re going to start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of the Middle East.

“The Secretary-General was appalled to learn this morning of the assassination of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi.  He utterly condemns this terrorist act and conveys his heartfelt condolences to Mr. Zeevi's family and to the Government of Israel.

The Secretary-General has consistently condemned all acts of terrorism from whatever quarter.  He welcomes President Arafat's condemnation of this despicable act and his promise to bring to justice those responsible.  The Secretary-General appeals to all parties to exercise maximum restraint and urges them to resume a sustained dialogue.  He continues to believe that peace and security can only be achieved through political negotiations, and that the parties should not be deflected from this path by terrorist acts.”

Following the assassination of the Minister, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, met with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, in Gaza.

Following the meeting, Larsen said that President Arafat had condemned the killings in the strongest possible terms, and that he had sent his condolences to Mr. Zeevi’s family.

The Special Coordinator added that it was his impression that President Arafat regards this assassination as extremely damaging to the Palestinian cause and national interest.

President Arafat informed Larsen that he had ordered the immediate search for, and arrest of, those responsible for today’s attack.

For more, we have a press release from the Special Coordinator’s office available in my Office.

**Afghanistan

On the Afghanistan front this morning, you know that Ambassador Brahimi met with the Security Council yesterday afternoon in closed consultations.  The Secretary-General was also present at that session to begin the first exchange of views on the potential United Nations role in that country.

On the humanitarian front, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the number of refugees arriving in Baluchistan, Pakistan, has climbed sharply, with a total of 8,000 believed to have crossed the border area over the past four days.  Around 2,000 crossed yesterday.

Newly arrived refugees in Quetta said there are many more vehicles traveling from Kandahar towards the border.  Refugees are also arriving from much further afield than Kandahar, according to UNHCR.  Reports from the border indicate that the physical condition of the new arrivals is visibly deteriorating.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director, Catherine Bertini, said the agency was stepping up food deliveries in a race to avoid widespread food shortages in the winter.  She outlined some of the challenges to reach that goal, including the worsening security conditions, lack of commercial trucking in rural areas and the lack of effective internal communication as well as the lack of a fully functioning monitoring and distributing capacity.

The WFP also reported today that the Taliban had taken over its food warehouses in Kabul and Kandahar, and that it will bypass the warehouses and continue supplying food directly to the needy population.

In related developments, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official, Kenzo Oshima, at the request of the Secretary-General, will travel to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from 22-27 October to discuss with the governments of these countries ways to enhance cooperation in delivering humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

On Friday, the High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, will be here in room 226 at 12:30 to talk to you about Afghanistan from the perspective of that main refugee agency.

**Drugs in Afghanistan

Still on Afghanistan, we have available in my Office a press release issued this morning in Vienna and Islamabad on the results of the United Nations Drug Control Programme’s annual opium poppy survey in Afghanistan, which was released today.

The results indicate that a total of 185 metric tonnes of raw opium were produced this year, that is to say 94 per cent less than the 2000 output of 3,276 tonnes.  The area estimated to be under cultivation in 2001 was 91 per cent smaller than last year’s estimate.

At the time of the survey, prices for fresh and dry opium showed great increases over last year.  The average farm-gate price reported by farmers was $301 per kilo, which represents a ten-fold increase over last year’s average price of $30 per kilo.

The full report can be found on the Drug Control Programme’s Web site.

**Security Council

The Security Council is holding consultations this morning on Somalia and Angola.

David Stephens, the Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and head of the Political Office in Somalia, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on that country.  Randolph Kent, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, is also present in the consultations.  The Council, as you know, will hold a public meeting on Somalia on Friday.

Angola, originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon, is being discussed this morning.  Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, is introducing the Secretary-General’s report on the United Nations Office in Angola and will brief Council members on the latest developments in that country.

The President of the Security Council, Ambassador Richard Ryan of Ireland, is expected to have a statement to the press following consultations on Angola.

For the record, following consultations on Burundi yesterday afternoon, Ambassador Ryan said that the Council welcomed the progress made at the recent Summit of Regional Peace Initiatives, held in Johannesburg on 11 October. Members of the Council called on all the Burundian parties to implement the peace process in an inclusive manner.

**East Timor

From East Timor, more than 370 refugees returned to East Timor from camps in Indonesian West Timor today.  Between 500 and 600 refugees are expected to cross the border tomorrow.  This return was facilitated by Timorese leader Xanana Gusmão, former pro-autonomy leaders from the Mahidi militia and the United Nations Mission.

After crossing the border, the Deputy Commander of Mahidi, Nemésio Lopes de Carvalho, appeared before an investigating judge trying to ascertain the degree of his involvement in the 1999 violence in East Timor.  He was conditionally released and is expected to be at the border for tomorrow’s refugee returns.

“I am happy to return to my home country and I am willing to face justice,” Nemesio Carvalho said.  His brother Cancio, also a former militia leader, presented Xanana Gusmão with a Mahidi t-shirt, a token of his ultimate surrender. “My struggle is over,” he said.

Please see the Dili Briefing Notes for more details on this and on the establishment of the Planning Commission integrated by government and civil society representatives who will design a comprehensive national development plan.

**Webcasts of the Noon Briefing

My last announcement for today is a practical one.  Live and archived Webcasts of the Noon Briefing are once again available on the United Nations Web site.  We’ll be adding a link from the main Spokesman’s Web page under the Daily Briefing heading.  Please note that the “Live at 12 noon New York Time” link is only available while the briefing is taking place.  After that it is available as an archived file.

So we’re glad to have that service back.

Any questions before we go to Jan?

Okay.  You’re all waiting for Mr. Brahimi, I guess.  Jan, what do you have for us today?

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

I’ll try to be brief as well.

**Briefing with Rohan Perera

First, I have some good news for you.  We have managed to arrange a press briefing with Rohan Perera, the Chairman of the ad hoc committee on International Terrorism.  The briefing will take place tomorrow at 2:30 in this room.  As you probably know, at the moment a working group under the Sixth Committee is meeting here on the issue, but it’s behind closed doors, which is why some of you have asked for this briefing.

You’ll recall that two of the main tasks of the Committee and the working group are to elaborate an International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and also a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

**Security Council Report

Yesterday, after hearing 25 Member States and one Observer, the General Assembly concluded its plenary on the report of the Security Council by taking note of the report.

**International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

In his message on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the General Assembly President said, among other things, “Poverty is a scourge that must be overcome and this can only be accomplished through concerted international efforts involving effective partnerships between developed and developing countries, and between government, the private sector and civil society.  It is moreover, vitally important, that such partnerships function within an economic and social environment where the poor are empowered and are able to participate in decisions that affect their lives.”

Any questions for me?  I have the text upstairs of this message.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The texts that they’re working on in that ad hoc committee aren’t available at the documents counter.  Can you try and get them available? I mean, the original Indian proposal seems to be two years old, so it’s not actually at the documents counter.

Spokesman:  If there are papers that can come out of the Committee now and be made available to you, I’ll certainly do so, but it’s also a request you could possibly make directly to the Chairman tomorrow during the briefing.

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