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 Manoel De Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.  Thank you very much for coming, it is good to be back with you here in the briefing room.  Fred is away with the Secretary-General in Geneva.

**Security Council

The Secretary-General, by the way, arrived this morning in Geneva and he held through a teleconference a closed consultation with the Security Council this morning, New York time, on East Timor and the follow-on mission to succeed the current UN Transitional Administration in East Timor.

Following that, the Security Council proceeded to hold three formal meetings to close out its work for the month of October.

First, it adopted a presidential statement on Somalia, reiterating its support for the peace process begun in Arta, Djibouti, last year, and requesting the Secretary-General to dispatch an inter-agency mission to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the security situation in Somalia.

It then adopted a presidential statement on the role of women in peace and security, in which it reaffirmed its strong support for increasing the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution and urged the Secretary-General to report on gender “mainstreaming” in UN peacekeeping.  It also urged him to appoint women as Special Envoys and as Special Representatives.

Last, the Council began a formal meeting on East Timor, which is going on now.  Council members and others present in the Council chamber heard from the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello.  He noted that East Timor’s Constituent Assembly had supported independence by May 20, 2002 -– exactly 200 days from now.  Vieira de Mello proposed that, by independence, the UN military component in East Timor should comprise some 5,000 personnel, roughly

44 per cent less than its current strength.

He added that, as Timorese take greater control over their governance, any precipitous reduction in government services should be avoided, and a minimum degree of support is needed to ensure that the new government does not falter.  Despite progress toward independence, he stressed “the job we have all set out to do is not yet done”.

Today’s meeting of the Council which is being chaired by Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowan, also featured as a speaker the Chief Minister of the Second Transitional Government of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, and officials from the World Bank and the UN Development Programme.  The last I saw of the list of speakers, there were 17 countries listed in addition to Council members who may wish to take

the floor.  I also understand that at the end of today's session, which of course

will go beyond lunchtime, the Council is expected to adopt a presidential statement on East Timor.

While the meeting adjourns for lunch, and that should be shortly after one o'clock, Sergio Vieira de Mello and Mari Alkatiri will be coming to the stakeout here on the second floor to talk to you guys.  That will be in between the morning session of the Council and him participating in that meeting commemorating the first anniversary of the resolution on women, peace and security, which I will tell you more about in a little while.

And also for the record yesterday afternoon, the Council, in a private meeting, discussed the Secretary-General’s latest report on Abkhazia, Georgia on which it was briefed by his Special Representative for Georgia, Dieter Boden.  The Council also talked to Malkhaz Kakabadze, a Georgian Cabinet official dealing with the Abkhaz issue.

**Afghanistan

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, as part of his efforts to seek a broad-based Afghan government, met with a group of Afghan women earlier today to hear their views on the future of their country.  The women were Afghan volunteers and non-governmental organization workers working essentially in the Peshawar area.

One woman was quoted as saying “There should be a space for women development and education in the future of Afghanistan.  If we can get peace, we will be able to assert our rights.”

Another said “There are too many walls encircling us, and we cannot be heard through these walls.  We hope the United Nations can help us.”

We would have loved to give you more details on these women but they were not immediately available.  If we do get more details, we will make them immediately available to you.

On the humanitarian front, the UN Regional Health Coordinator Mohamed Abdi Jama painted a bleak picture of the health situation, saying mass population movements, and insufficient access to health services mean the population is highly vulnerable to infectious diseases.

UNICEF today said more than 40,000 Afghan volunteers and health workers will fan out across Afghanistan to immunize a target of 5.4 million children against polio from November 6 to 8.  More importantly, UNICEF said they will deliver Vitamin A drops that are thought to reduce by half the chances of a child dying of measles.  Each year 300,000 Afghan children die of preventable causes. 24 per cent of those die from measles.

The World Food Programme (WFP) expressed concerns about the deteriorating security conditions, saying the already difficult task of getting food to Afghans in need could become impossible.

On Monday evening, the office of an NGO working with WFP in Kabul was attacked.  Four guards were beaten and equipment, such as computers, was removed.  In Kandahar, where WFP lost control of its stocks on 16 October, the agency said it has received unconfirmed reports indicating that most of these stocks, and that is about 1,600 tonnes, disappeared and that WFP vehicles have been taken.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers reiterated a call for open borders in talks with Iran’s President Mohammed Khatami and senior government officials.  Iran’s border with Afghanistan remains officially closed like the borders with Pakistan and Central Asian nations.

The UNHCR also said that a group of armed Taliban seized the agency’s field office just across the border from Pakistan inside Afghanistan at Spin Boldak.  There were no UNHCR staff in the office at the time.  The incident came just hours after a meeting between Lubbers and the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan during which Lubbers requested the Taliban to stop interfering with UNHCR property and staff, so that operations could continue inside Afghanistan.

We had announced that our noon guest today would be Kenzo Oshima, the Humanitarian Coordinator who has just visited the region and got back late last night.  He will not be able to make it today, we are trying to get him tomorrow or as soon as he is available.  We apologize for that.

**Human Rights

In her annual report to the General Assembly, out on the racks today, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson says there is “no doubt” that the international crisis following the September 11 attacks on the United States has broad ramifications for future human rights work.

In this context, she notes three guiding principles:  the need to eliminate discrimination and build a just and tolerant world; the cooperation by all States against terrorism, without using such cooperation as a pretext to infringe on human rights; and strengthened commitment to the rule of law.

The report also reviews the work over the past year by the High Commissioner’s office, including efforts to advance human rights in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Indonesia, Chechnya and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

**Palestinian Report

Still on reports, in its annual report to the General Assembly, which is out today, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People says that, since the beginning of the new intifada last year, more than

660 Palestinians have been killed, and some 20,000 wounded.  Moreover, the gains in the Palestinian economy in previous years are now all but gone.

The Committee views the breakdown in the peace negotiations with alarm, and calls for the immediate and comprehensive implementation of the recommendations of the Mitchell Committee, which it calls “the most practicable route back to the peace process”.  A stepped-up engagement by the key international parties, it says, is now needed more than ever.

**ICTY

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia yesterday unsealed an indictment against a Bosnian Croat police commander, Pasko Ljubicic who is accused of crimes against humanity in the Bosnian areas of Vitez and Busovaca in 1992 and 1993.  The indictment alleges that Ljubicic had ordered subordinates to kill all Muslims of military age in several Bosnian villages, where approximately 100 civilians were killed.

We have further details in a press release upstairs in the Spokesman's Office.

**Food Summit

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that the 49-member FAO Council has set the date for the World Food Summit:  five years later.  It has been scheduled now for 10-13 June 2002 and will be held in Rome.  As you might recall the postponement of that summit was announced a couple of weeks ago.

There is a press release in the Spokesman's Office with more information on that.

**Press Releases

Also a press release is available from Geneva announcing the upcoming visit to Colombia by Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswamy.  She will be in Colombia for a week beginning tomorrow, 1 November, to investigate violence against women in the country’s armed conflict.

**Panel on Women, Security and Peace

Yesterday we announced that the United Nations Inter-agency Taskforce on Women, Security and Peace would hold a panel discussion and that it would take place yesterday.  There was a mistake in the information, that will take place today in the ECOSOC Chamber and that is at 1:15.  We apologize for this confusion.  Just to remind you in this panel, in addition to Sergio Vieira de Mello, there will be the Irish Foreign Minister and President of the Security Council, Brian Cowan; Angela King, Special Adviser on Gender Issues; Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs; Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping; and Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs.

**Secretary-General meeting with heads of Principal Organs

We had a few questions yesterday on the result of the meeting of the Secretary-General with the heads of the principal organs of the United Nations, meaning the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the sixth, the Secretariat.

It was their third annual meeting, and they exchanged views on developments in their respective bodies.  They also discussed arrangements regarding the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to be held in Oslo on 10 November.  They agreed that for the United Nations portion of the award, the President of the General Assembly will receive the award, comprising a diploma and a medal, on behalf of the United Nations.  And demonstrating the unity of the Organization as a whole, they decided that there should be only one Nobel Lecture and that will be by the Secretary-General.

The heads of the Principal Organs also agreed that the delegation to Oslo for the award ceremony will include the following categories, Presidents of the Principal Organs, Heads of Funds and Programmes, like UNICEF, UNHCR and UNDP, and a number of staff and other personnel from Headquarters and the field.

They also discussed the question of the cash prize and they agreed to take up this matter at a later date.

**World Chronicle

I have here two World Chronicle programmes, one with Hans Corell, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, which will be screened at 3:30 p.m., on in-house channels 3 or 31, and the other with Karl Sauvant, Director of the Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise development at UNCTAD, which is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which will also be shown today but at 4 p.m., following the Hans Corell programme on the same channels.

**Tomorrow's Guest at Noon

No press conferences are scheduled for today, however tomorrow our guest at the noon briefing be Gustavo Zlauvinen, the representative in New York for the International Atomic Energy Agency and he will be briefing on you on nuclear terrorism, and I know that he will have to written notes to share with you as well.

Are there any questions before we move to Jan?

**Question and Answers:

Question:  There seems to be some confusion in Islamabad who requested a meeting involving Mr. Brahimi and the Taliban.  I was wondering if you could clarify who asked for what and what the status is.

Deputy Spokesman:  Well there was a request from the Taliban to see

Mr. Brahimi, but unfortunately he will not be able to see them this time; there is a scheduling issue there.  So this time this will not be happening.  But of course you know that the Taliban representative in Islamabad has just met with High Commissioner Lubbers, and he has regular contact with the regional humanitarian coordinator.  It is very important for us that the Taliban ensure the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.  Too many people are in need of that.

Question:  So the Taliban saying that it was the United Nations that approached them about a meeting is incorrect?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don't think that is correct.  We have seen the press reports on that; all I can tell you is our side and Ambassador Brahimi will not be able to see them this time.

Question:  Could things be arranged in Afghanistan without having talks between the Taliban and the United Nations?

Deputy Spokesman:  We have always said that it is necessary to have talks with all those concerned.  We have had contact with them, we have an office in Kabul even though we currently do not have international staff there, but it is not as if we have not had contact with the Taliban.  We have had contact with them in the past, and we continue to do so, and this time it will not be possible for Mr. Brahimi, but he will be going back to the region a number of times.  He views it as necessary to have contact with everyone in order to advance the search for a broad-based, multiethnic administration in Afghanistan.

Question:  Yesterday a new government was formed in Burundi, composed of Tutsis and Hutus.  Was there reaction from the Secretary-General and do you have any details on the composition of the Government?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don't think it was yesterday.  I think that tomorrow,

1 November, there will be a transitional government which is the result of a lot of work by many people, but in particular by Nelson Mandela, who is the facilitator of the Burundi peace process.  I believe we'll have something on that but it is only tomorrow that this Government begins.

Question:  But reports say that it was already formed yesterday.

Deputy Spokesman:  Well I have no doubt that people are talking about it.  You may recall that the Security Council also adopted a presidential statement the other day welcoming this transition government, but it is only on 1 November that it starts.

Jan?

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Yes.  Good afternoon, I don't have much for you today but I can tell you that the General Assembly heard 17 speakers on reform of the Security Council yesterday.  As of this morning, there were 50 speakers left on the list.

During the briefing yesterday, I predicted that the General Assembly would take action on the two draft resolutions regarding dates for Dialogue among Civilizations and on the special session on children.  I was half right.  A resolution on the Dialogue item was adopted but the Assembly postponed taking action on the resolution on the special session to allow time for the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Fifth Committee to consider the programme budget implications of the resolution.  This could take

7 to 10 days but would not change the dates which will remain 8-10 May 2002.

That was what I had to say, any questions?

Deputy Spokesman:  There are no questions then.  Have a very nice afternoon.  Don't forget that Mr. Vieira de Mello and Mr. Alkatin are coming to the stakeout shortly after one o'clock.

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