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.

I don’t see Bob McMann here, I understand he just got back from his honeymoon, congratulations to him. 

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, yesterday, after stopping overnight in Saudi Arabia where he met yesterday morning with Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud al-Faisal.

In Islamabad, he met today with the Pakistani Foreign Secretary

Inam-ul Haque and had a working luncheon with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. 

He also met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, who just returned to Islamabad from a visit to Quetta.

United Nations Spokesman Eric Falt quoted Brahimi as having said today,

“If a way can be found to liberate and empower the people of Afghanistan, this is something the international community can eventually be proud of.”

He plans to meet with Afghans, from political actors to civil society representatives and he had added to his team Ashraf Ghani, an expert on Afghanistan who is himself also an Afghan.  Mr. Ghani has been seconded to

Mr. Brahimi’s staff by the World Bank.

**Afghanistan-Humanitarian

Also on the humanitarian side of Afghanistan, as we mentioned, the High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, is also in Islamabad today, where he expects to meet tomorrow with President Pervez Musharraf, and also with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and other senior Pakistani officials.  In those meetings, he will repeat the UNHCR's call for Pakistan to open its borders, and will urge greater flexibility by Pakistan in deciding which vulnerable Afghan refugees can enter the country.

Over the weekend, he met with local officials in Quetta and visited the border area in Chaman, including the Killi Faizo staging camp that has been set up in the Western province of Baluchistan.  As of this afternoon, there are more than 1,300 Afghans at that site.

The UNHCR believes that the number of Afghans who have illegally crossed into Pakistan could possibly total more than 80,000.  As a result, Lubbers has

been discussing the possibility of opening some camps that are being set up in Pakistan immediately.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR has received reports from some Afghans who have been using two camps based in Nimruz, on the Afghan side of the Afghanistan-Iran border; some Afghans there have expressed fears that they could be forcibly recruited or used as human shields by the Taliban.  The Nimruz camps, as of last night, held some 7,800 people.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has stepped up food deliveries to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries, loading about 1,500 tons of food today from Peshawar, in north-western Pakistan.  However, the WFP says that insecurity, fuel shortages and the lack of trucks make it a problem to distribute food inside the country.

So far, the agency and its non-governmental partners have been able to distribute enough food to last for about a month for 2 million Afghans -– only about a third of the Afghans who need food aid.

**Security Council

The Security Council started its work today by holding closed consultations.  Council members discussed a draft resolution on Burundi, which will be adopted as a presidential text at a formal meeting to be held shortly.  In the resolution, the Council reaffirms its strong support for the Burundi transitional government, which will be installed on 1 November.  Among other points, it also expresses its strong support for the establishment of an interim multinational security presence in Burundi, and urges the international community to provide additional assistance to that country, including by honouring fully the pledges made by donors during the Paris Conference of December 2000.

Still during consultations, under other matters, Kieran Prendergast, the Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed Council members on the latest developments in the Middle East.

Council members were also briefed by Hedi Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, on the shooting at a United Nations helicopter in Georgia on 8 October and the general security situation in that country.

The Security Council is now holding a private meeting with Judge Gilbert Guillaume, the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).  Judge Guillaume is briefing Council members on recent cases before the Court.  This is the second time the ICJ President briefed the Security Council.

**Pakistan

I have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman concerning the incident in Pakistan yesterday.

“The Secretary-General expresses his utter repugnance at the murder of innocent worshippers yesterday in the church of Saint Dominic’s in eastern Pakistan.  He condemns this cold-blooded act of indiscriminate violence and conveys his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.  No course can ever be served by the killing of innocent civilians.

“The Secretary-General calls on the Pakistani authorities to bring those responsible to justice and redouble their efforts to ensure freedom and security for Pakistanis of every religion and ethnicity.” 

**Georgia

The Secretary-General, in his latest report on the work of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which is out on the racks today, says that the shooting down of a UN helicopter earlier this month in Abkhazia, killing all nine people on board, marked a new low in the situation.

He calls the 8 October shoot-down “an outrage”, and says it raises serious questions about the failure of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides to ensure the security of UN personnel.

He says that both sides in the conflict have contributed to “the present deplorable state of affairs”, and he notes the efforts of his Special Representative for Georgia, Dieter Boden, to re-establish a dialogue between the two sides.

The report notes in particular the worsening situation since late August in the Kodori Valley, where Georgian armed irregulars, together with predominantly Chechen groups of fighters, have clashed with Abkhaz forces.  It notes that the activities of the armed irregulars have led to “the serious destabilization of the situation in the conflict area.”

The Secretary-General calls on both sides to respect the ceasefire, stop encouraging any military action and return to the peace process “without reservation or procrastination.”

**East Timor

Some 600 East Timorese in West Timor refugee camps went back to East Timor yesterday, no I am sorry, that was on Saturday.   Top officials from East Timor, Indonesia and the UN Mission were at the border to witness the return movement.

Some 3,200 East Timorese refugees have returned home so far this month.  It is the highest number to have returned in a single month since March 2000.  Over 188,000 East Timorese have returned voluntarily to East Timor since October 1999.

The significant increase during the past month may be attributed to the growing confidence of the refugees in the situation in East Timor, especially since the successful 30 August elections.  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees anticipates that many thousand more will return before the full onset of the rainy season and the Christmas celebrations.  The proactive approach of the Government of Indonesia, together with the reconciliation process driven by the East Timorese leadership, add further impetus to encouraging refugee returns.

For more details on this programme, pick up a copy of the Dili Briefing Note in my office.

The Security Council will hold a public meeting on East Timor this coming Wednesday.  Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, and Mari Alkatiri, the Chief Minister of the Second Transitional Government, will be here and will be talking to you at the stakeout on Wednesday.  We will confirm the precise time tomorrow.

**Liberia Briefing

I am told that the Liberia briefing in the Security Council scheduled for 12:30 p.m. has been delayed.  It is tentatively put back to 3 p.m., but we will keep you posted. 

[It was later announced that the briefing had been cancelled.]

**ICTY

This morning in The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia heard a briefing by the friends of the court on the motion by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, challenging the legality of the court on grounds of political bias.  The friends of the court have been appointed by the Tribunal to provide legal assistance to Mr. Milosevic.

In the afternoon, Milosevic made his first appearance before the court on charges alleging his responsibility for crimes committed in Croatia.  That appearance is continuing.

The office of Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte confirmed today that, next week, it will present for review by Tribunal judges new charges against the former Yugoslav President, including the charge of genocide, for crimes allegedly committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It will be up to the Tribunal judges to review and then confirm the Bosnia indictment.

Del Ponte will also seek the joinder of all the charges against Milosevic –- those previously filed concerning Kosovo and Croatia, and those still to be filed on Bosnia, if they are confirmed.

**Depleted Uranium

In a press release issued yesterday in Belgrade, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced that a team of experts is visiting the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia this week to investigate sites in Serbia and Montenegro that were targeted by ordnance containing depleted uranium (DU) during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.

It will build on a study published earlier this year on the environmental impact of DU in Kosovo.  The UNEP team will take samples and measurements at sites in Serbia’s Presevo Valley and Montenegro’s Cape Arza.  The team, which is led by the chairman of the UNEP Depleted Uranium Assessment Team, Pekka Haavisto, will visit sites targeted during the conflict as well as areas where decontamination work has since taken place.

**Climate Change

The seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Climate Change got under way today in Marrakech, Morocco.

During this morning’s plenary, delegations representing 164 countries elected Mohamed Elyazghi, Morocco’s Environment Minister, as conference president.

Starting tomorrow, and until the start of the high-level segment a week from this Wednesday, delegates will meet in working groups in an effort to translate the political principles reached at the Bonn meeting last July into a detailed operational rulebook for the Kyoto Protocol.

The conference, which is scheduled to run until 9 November, brings together more than 4,000 participants, including official delegations, non-governmental organizations and media. 

We also have available upstairs a press release on new information resources available on climate change.

**Arab Trade Meeting

Trade and Economic Ministers from Arab States are gathering at the United Nations House in Beirut today in an effort to seek a joint position ahead of the fourth World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference, which is to be held in Qatar from 9 to 13 November.

This two-day meeting is organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with the WTO, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Arab League.

In her opening remarks, ESCWA Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawi called for increased coordination and economic integration among Arab countries.  "Arab countries will undoubtedly be affected by this recession”, she said, “and this is why we should be prepared, and work on softening the impact."

Also from Beirut, we have a press release announcing that tomorrow and Wednesday, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for southern Lebanon, Staffan de Mistura, will be meeting with the new local officials elected in the municipal elections held in southern Lebanon in September.

This visit should provide de Mistura with a first-hand view of the current needs of the South and the priorities set by the local administration.

We have a press release on that.

**Global Compact Conference

Today and tomorrow, an international conference will be convened at the British Petroleum training centre in London to review the progress of the Global Compact.

The conference will seek to chart how participating companies can share their experiences in working with the principles of the Compact and how an Internet data bank and learning resource tool can be set up to provide information and commentary on corporate citizenship.

The conference will involve 80 participants, including representatives of major corporations, academic experts, and leaders from the labour, human rights, and environmental movements from around the world.

A report on the results and conclusions of the conference will be posted on the Global Compact Web site which is www.unglobalcompact.org.

**Second Committee

Today the Second Committee is starting discussion of the Johannesburg Summit -- the World Summit on Sustainable Development.  Also, the high-level advisory panel  for the Summit, appointed by the Secretary-General last week, will hold its first meeting today. 

In this connection, Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and the Secretary-General for the Summit, will brief the press tomorrow at 12:45 about the Summit preparations. He will be accompanied by the Chairmen of the five regional roundtables for the Summit, held earlier this year.

**Press Releases

One press release to highlight for you today.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has announced that a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team conducted an assessment mission to flood-affected areas of Guinea in cooperation with the Government of Guinea and United Nations agencies.  The UNDAC team said that some of the most urgent needs of the population had not yet been met, and donors are being sought for assistance to meet these needs.  We have more information in a press release, it is in French only.

**Blood Drive

As we told you on Friday, the Medical Service has organized a blood drive today in cooperation with the New York Blood Center. 

So far today, about 30 staff members have already donated blood and there are another 35 or so in line.  The New York Blood Center was prepared for about

65 donations, but it looks like there will be many more.  More beds are being set up to reduce the waiting time and we will inform you of further developments.  That’s in the South lobby just outside the cafeteria.

**Guest at Noon Briefing

Finally, the guest at tomorrow’s noon briefing will be Antonio Donini, the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, and he’ll brief you on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.

Then, apart from the 12:45 briefing that I just mentioned, there will be a 1:15 p.m. briefing by women peace leaders from Afghanistan, Kosovo and East Timor who will brief on their morning meeting with Security Council members about violations committed against women during and after conflict.

Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), will chair the press conference and there is a media advisory for you on the racks. 

That is all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers:

Question:  How many people, that is staff, do you have in Afghanistan?

Spokesman:  How many United Nations personnel?  There are no international personnel.  We’re studying closely the possibility of returning some international personnel to the northern part of the country, and we had about 700 local Afghan staff.  I don’t know how many of them are still active.  I would have to check for you.

Question:  How many official United Nations people are there?

Spokesman:  What do you mean by official?  If you mean international, there are none.  In all our humanitarian operations we have international and local staff, the local staff usually greatly outnumber the international staff.  They do most of the work, in fact.  I don’t have the precise number that is still active on the local side Serge?

Question:  What is the exact mission of Mr. Brahimi.  I recall last time he was here, he told us that nothing could be done about Afghanistan and then he disappeared.  So now we are hearing stories, what is his exact mission?

Spokesman:  He said that there were no good options but his objective, particularly on this mission, is to begin consultations with Afghan political actors and representatives of civil society.  His objective is to see whether a broad-based government could be put together by the Afghans themselves and what the possible shape of that government might be.  So that is his current objective.

Question:  Where did he get his power?

Spokesman:  The Secretary-General reappointed him to this role as Special Representative.

Question:  Is he actually going to Kabul?  Because I understand he is in Islamabad now, is he heading to Kabul as well?

Spokesman:  I don’t think the security situation would allow him to travel to Afghanistan.  His next stop at the end of this week will likely be Teheran.  We don’t rule out that he might make other visits before he returns here, possibly, although not definitely, for the General Debate.

Question:  Any comments on the reports from the region that Mr. Brahimi would not be meeting with Taliban officials for logistical reasons, especially when he told us that he was open to meeting with anybody who would want to talk to him.

Spokesman:  Yes, he was asked today whether he would meet with the Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, and in fact the ambassador did ask him for an appointment and he said he would get back to the ambassador.  He said in a press conference this morning something like:  “We have a policy at the United Nations that we meet with everybody that helps our purpose.”  So we will just have to see if an appointment indeed is set up.  But I think he is open to meeting with everyone who could be helpful to the process.

Question:  It was announced today in Israel that the three Israeli soldiers that were abducted by the Hezbollah were confirmed dead.  Can you comment on this?

Spokesman:  I don’t know whether that announcement has been made.  I understand that at 12:30 p.m. there was to be a press conference, so I am not sure if that is official.  If that indeed is the announcement, we would have no way of knowing whether these three were alive or not.  The Secretary-General has, as you know, for well over a year been trying to negotiate an exchange of Lebanese prisoners in Israel for these Israeli prisoners in Lebanon.  That effort, unfortunately, was unsuccessful. 

Question:  Any news from the West Bank and Gaza, on the situation and what has gone on between the two parties there?

Spokesman:  No, I personally did not get a report today from Mr. Roed-Larson’s office.  If you check with Stephane Dujarric in my office, after the briefing, he could give you some sense of what might have been in the cable traffic during the night.  

Question:  Will the Secretary-General be coming here tomorrow before he leaves for Geneva? 

Spokesman:  Here to 226?  No, there is not a plan for him to brief the press as far as I am aware of. 

Question:  Will he come to the building?

Spokesman:  Oh, the building, I don’t know, I would have to check.  As he is not scheduled to leave until the evening, I think there is a good chance that he would be in a good part of the day.

Question:  Will he be attending the WTO meeting?

Spokesman:  I don’t know that yet.  We are not ready to announce that yet.

Question:  Is he afraid that more attacks in Afghanistan would cause crimes as the one that happened yesterday in Pakistan?

Spokesman:  Well, I think many of the analysts are saying that the longer the bombing campaign goes on, the greater tensions will be created in the surrounding States and elsewhere.  But I am really not in a position to say one way or the other, so I would not want to comment on that.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Good afternoon.

The next plenary meeting of the General Assembly is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a.m. and will deal with the agenda, with the International Court of Justice reports and then, in the afternoon, with the question of equitable representation on, and increase in, the membership of the Security Council.  The report of the Open-ended Working Group on this latter issue should be out shortly as document A/56/47.

Today at 3:30 p.m. the President of the General Assembly will meet with the Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Anders Johnsson.  He will then have a meeting with the chairs of the Regional Groups which is expected to focus upon Dialogue among Civilizations and the Special Session on Children among other things.  We will probably be able to announce the dates for these two events tomorrow.

As you know, the General Assembly on Friday elected 18 members of the Economic and Social Council.  I did not have the results in time for the noon briefing but I made them available at the documents counter on the third floor in the afternoon, and there are still copies there.

Also on Friday, I announced that the Working Group on International Terrorism had made important progress and reached agreement on all but three articles of the comprehensive convention.  Friday afternoon, after the meeting of the Sixth Committee, the Working Group met again and decided to recommend that the Sixth Committee continue to try to resolve the outstanding issues.  The draft report of the Working Group says among other things:  “There was agreement that, in the light of the recent terrorist attacks in the host country, it was of vital importance that the Working Group should conclude its work on the comprehensive convention with a view to its adoption at the current session of the General Assembly.”

I don’t know if any of you got hold of the Conference Room papers but I just want you to know that they were amended considerably, so what you may have is not necessarily what will come out in the report.  The draft report is expected out later this week but I suggest that you check the Web site as well, because it is very likely it will be available on the United Nations Web site before it is out as a document. 

That is what I have for you today.

Any questions for Jan?

**Questions and Answers:

Question:  Why is there a $325,000 travel allocation before the Assembly for the President of the Economic and Social Council and his staff?  Tell us why this amount of money, and what is the difference because the previous President never requested this amount of money.  

Spokesman:  I am not aware of the figures you are mentioning, $325 000 for the travel allocation for the ECOSOC President and his staff?  I will have to check into that and get back to you tomorrow. 

OK, thank you very much

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