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.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

**Opening

Good afternoon.  We were expecting Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, today, but he will now be coming tomorrow.

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, today arrived in Paris, where he is scheduled to meet with French President Jacques Chirac in about an hour’s time.  Mr. Brahimi is expected to take a few questions from reporters outside the Elysee Palace following that meeting, and we should have those remarks available later in the day.  Mr. Brahimi is expected to be back in New York tomorrow.  A meeting with the Secretary-General is at the top of his list of appointments on arrival at United Nations Headquarters.  In Rome yesterday, Mr. Brahimi said the former King of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, was willing to help in the manner that is useful and acceptable to everyone.

**Afghanistan Humanitarian

On the humanitarian front, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, today reminded the humanitarian community of its responsibility for civilians caught in the conflict.  “The fight against terrorism is important”, Mr. Lubbers said.  But, he added, that action must be taken to make good on the promises made to the Afghan people at the beginning of this conflict, that “they are not the target of this war and will not be forgotten”.  Mr. Lubbers again appealed to neighbouring States to open their borders to those in need of temporary protection and assistance.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that, within the first six days of November, the WFP has been able to send more than 15,000 tons of food into Afghanistan.  The WFP says that it is hopeful that it can reach its target of bringing 52,000 tons of food into the country.  Available is a note by the WFP on efforts to reach Afghans in the western part of the country, a region plagued by drought and suffering from insecurity due to banditry and civil war for the past three years, where about 2 million people are dependent on food aid.  About 300,000 of them are internally displaced persons (IDPs) and live in camps in and around Herat City.

As United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are racing against the clock to reach needy Afghans with winter provisions, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office reported on the tense security situation in Kandahar.  Several United Nations offices remain occupied by local Taliban authorities and three NGOs have reported that their office equipment and vehicles

have been seized.  An NGO providing health services to people in Kandahar City had two of its ambulances destroyed in the United States-led air strike.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said, on the third and final day of the National Immunization Days inside Afghanistan, that reports indicate there has been very little disruption so far in the campaign to immunize against polio and administer vitamin A drops to millions of Afghan children.  I think the vitamin A drops boost your immune system and increase the effectiveness of the inoculation.  So far, the only region which reports problems of access is

Mazar-i-Sharif, where two districts were apparently inaccessible to the immunization teams.

**Sierra Leone

There was a tragic accident in Sierra Leone yesterday.  A United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter, flight number United Nations-103, which was travelling from UNAMSIL headquarters to Lungi Airport on official duties, crashed into the sea shortly after taking off, at approximately 7:50 local time.  The helicopter was carrying a crew of four, plus two Zambian military officers and one civilian Air Operations staff member.

The UNAMSIL launched an extensive search and rescue operation, with the assistance of the Government of Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Three bodies were recovered before the search was discontinued at midnight last night.  The search and rescue operation resumed at 6 o’clock this morning and is continuing as we speak.  Initial indications are that the cause of the accident is mechanical.  No foul play or sabotage is suspected.  The Secretary-General extends his heartfelt condolences to the Governments of Ukraine and Zambia and to the bereaved families.  He also wishes to express his deep appreciation of the services rendered by these UNAMSIL staff members in the pursuit of peace in Sierra Leone.

We have the names of the seven victims of that crash.  Four were Ukrainian, including the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Savchuk, and the co-pilot, Captain Sergei Filippovich.  The other two crew members were Captain Sergei Ayushev and Senior Lieutenant Andrei Kulikov.  Of the other three passengers, two were staff officers from Zambia, Lieutenant Colonels Kasonde Mwale and Timmy Kasamu.  And the last victim was a United Nations Volunteer, Dimitar Atanassov of Bulgaria.  We have a press release from the Mission.

**Security Council

The Security Council started early this morning with consultations on Kosovo.  Council members discussed a presidential statement and decided that they would continue to work on the draft of that statement at the “expert” level.  They then took up Sierra Leone.  First, they heard a briefing by Hédi Annabi, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, on the latest developments in Sierra Leone, including yesterday’s tragic helicopter accident.

They then heard from Hans Corell, the United Nations Legal Counsel, on the Special Court for Sierra Leone.  Mr. Corell noted that the United Nations has sent to the Government of Sierra Leone a draft agreement for the Court, with a statute for the Court as an annex.  At the end of this month, he said, a planning mission for the Court will be sent from United Nations Headquarters, and he also discussed financing issues for the Court.

At the end of this morning’s consultations, the Council will have its monthly working luncheon with the Secretary-General, and this afternoon, starting at about 3 p.m., the Council will hold a public meeting on Burundi.  In addition to Council members, representatives of the Regional Peace Initiative will be present at the ministerial level.  Other Member States and the Secretariat are expected to take the floor.  After all speeches are delivered, participants will continue their discussions in a private meeting, and following that session, the Council is expected to hold a formal meeting in order to adopt the presidential statement.

**Iraq Sanctions

The Norwegian Mission informs us that there will be a new formal meeting of the 661 Sanctions Committee on Iraq.  That will take place today at 3:30 p.m. in Conference Room 7 to discuss, among other items, the case of the alleged oil smuggling involving the tanker TT Essex.  As usual, following the closed meeting, the Committee’s Chair, Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway, will brief the press.

**World Trade Organization Conference

The Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization will begin tomorrow in Doha, Qatar, and the Secretary-General, in a message to be delivered by Rubens Ricupero, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), will call for the ministers to launch a true “development round” of trade negotiations.  In his message, which we will make available to you this afternoon in embargoed copies, he will call for a round of negotiations that will address the central concerns of developing countries and strengthen their competitive position.

**Host Country

Out on the racks is the latest report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country.  It outlines some of the work and discussions the Committee has had concerning, among other topics, travel restrictions, taxation and immigration issues.

**Troop Contributions Update

In my Office, you’ll find an update on the number of peacekeepers who served with 14 United Nations peacekeeping operations at the end of October.  The number has reached a total of 47,669, and that includes military personnel and police monitors, and they come from 87 different countries.

**Press Releases

Speaking at the Seventh Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakech, Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said that billions of people in the tropics could face acute hunger and malnutrition unless the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were reduced.  New studies indicate that, for every temperature rise of one degree Centigrade in the tropics, crop yields could fall by as much as 10 per cent.  We have a press release with more information on that.

In a second press release, the WFP announced plans for a large-scale food relief operation in Zimbabwe in response to the growing number of Zimbabweans facing hunger.  The emergency intervention is aimed at 558,000 rural people facing acute food shortages and who do not receive assistance from NGO bilateral food aid programmes.

And finally, UNICEF has announced that a mass immunization against measles will take place in Uganda on 11 and 12 November.  Children under five years of age will be immunized and given vitamin A capsules in 11 districts.  We have a media advisory on that.

**Press Conferences

At 1 p.m. today, Jayantha Dhanapala, the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, will brief on the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, which is to take place here in New York on 11-13 November.  And then, the long-awaited briefing, on a background basis, on security issues for you in the press, will take place in this room at 1:45 p.m.  That will be an informal briefing on security arrangements for the General Debate.  And then tomorrow afternoon at 3:45, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, will brief about his recent visit to Myanmar and present his report to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) of the General Assembly tomorrow morning.

That’s all I have for you. 

**Questions and Answers

Question:  What is the Secretary-General doing on meetings leading up to the General Debate and perhaps through it, on getting agreement on the outstanding issues relating to the two terrorism treaties, the definition and the armed forces application to the nuclear treaty?

Spokesman:  He has been meeting with the members of the Sixth Committee (Legal) of the General Assembly.  He’s had two meetings so far this week, one on Monday and one yesterday, trying to nudge them forward.  They’re very close to agreement but not there yet, and he considers that unanimity in the Assembly on the subject of terrorism, particularly a definition of terrorism, is essential.  So, whether the Member States will be able to overcome their remaining differences or not, we’ll have to see.  But we understand they’re very close.

Question:  What are the chances of getting a briefing by Ambassador Brahimi tomorrow?

Spokesman:  Slim.  We don’t know when he’s going to arrive, probably late morning, and then everybody wants to hear from him.  We haven't yet finalized when he’ll brief the Security Council, whether he’ll feel he’s in a position to do it tomorrow or we’ll have to wait until Monday.  I don’t think he would want to brief you before he’s briefed the Council.  So we’ll indicate to him your keen interest in hearing from him and we’ll see how soon we can schedule it.

Question:  Wonder if you have further information on the status of the financing of the Sierra Leone court, whether they have enough money to go forward, and number two, more detail on the conference for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Spokesman:  On your first question, the Secretary-General was seeking

$15 million for the first year of the Court’s operation.  Ten million of that are in the bank and there are some additional contributions that I understand have some conditions attached, which has resulted in our having to have further negotiations with the donors.  So we aren’t in a position yet to say we’ve got the full $15 million in the bank.  But I think we’ve got $15 million worth of pledges, part of which we need to disencumber.

Question:  You mention a draft statute.  Does Sierra Leone need to pass this law before anything can happen, anyway?

Spokesman:  I assume so.  On your second question, there has been no change since yesterday.  I know I said yesterday that we hoped by the end of yesterday that we’d have a clearer sense from the governments involved, of the date and the agenda or terms, of the high-level meeting on humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.  But we continue talking to those parties and a common position hasn’t yet emerged.  And having been burned yesterday, I won’t predict that we might have something by the end of today.  I’ll just remain silent.

Question:  How does the United Nations see this session of the General Assembly?  Is it just another General Assembly or is there something different in this one in terms of dealing with terrorism or this being a new century?

Spokesman:  I think after 11 September all nations are rethinking their security policies, and the Secretary-General has sensed a keener interest on the part of almost all countries to work more closely together.  This will be the first high-level gathering in this Building, so there will be a chance to have some, I would say, quite interesting bilateral consultations, as well as the plenary meetings that are scheduled, on the subject of terrorism.  And then there are the related issues, the Middle East, everyone is looking at whether there could be, perhaps, some movement towards a return to negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.  There’ll certainly be a lot of pressure, I think, here during the general debate for progress on the Middle East, and I don’t think I would stop there, although I wouldn’t want to specifically name other perennial conflict issues that governments try to tackle when they get together at a high level.  But I’m sure that on other issues, too, there’ll be concerted efforts to move the agenda forward.  Whether there’ll be any success or not, we just have to see.

Question:  Is the Nobel Peace Prize winner trying to promote or push certain countries towards meeting here who have not shown any interest?  Or delegations?

Spokesman:  Over the last few months, even before 11 September, the Secretary-General was “pressuring”, if I can use that word, a number of key actors to attend the General Debate in the hope that in the margins of the meetings, he could arrange a few key bilateral exchanges that might be helpful to the peace process in the Middle East, on Kashmir, on Cyprus.  Anyway, we’re hoping we can make a small contribution, if not a large one, on one or more of these issues.

Question:  Rauf Denktash is reported to have said he wants face-to-face talks with Mr. Clerides, which I think would be the first time in a long time.  How does the Secretary-General react to that?  Is that an encouraging sign the United Nations can promote?

Spokesman:  I don’t have guidance on that.  I’ll have to get back to you.  I know that Alvaro is in the region for yet another round of talks to see if we can’t get something moving.  We have not been very successful in getting Cyprus talks going again.  I haven’t seen the comment ascribed to him.  (It was later announced that the proposal mentioned was not directed to the United Nations, and the United Nations had no comment on it.)

Question:  What’s the procedure for Saturday and afterwards on how the press can meet some of the dignitaries?

Spokesman:  You have the speakers’ list of yesterday.  I promised yesterday that we’d try to get an advance copy of the Secretary-General’s appointments for Saturday and Sunday.  I tried to get that this morning.  It’s still not finalized and they won’t let me share it with you today.  But they said by tomorrow we should be able to give you the Secretary-General’s appointments.  But as far as arranging your own interviews or whatever with visiting heads of State, you’ll have to go through the missions.  My Office can’t book your interview requests with these people.

Question:  There was an altercation at the newsstand downstairs this morning.  A United Nations employee was furious at a publication being sold, Gun Shooters Monthly.  Does the United Nations have the ability to ban or regulate what’s sold at that stand?  What do you think of the idea of such a magazine being sold in the House of Peace?

Spokesman:  I don’t think we want to get into the business of telling our vendors what they can and can't sell.  You as the consumer can exercise your power as to whether you buy or not buy.  But I would have to look into the contract as to whether there are any general guidelines we give to people.  There are certain types of magazines we wouldn’t want to see there, not necessarily the Shooters Monthly or whatever.  Let me look into the guidelines.

Question:  Regarding the Secretary-General’s encouragement of bilaterals in the Middle East, Kashmir and Cyprus, can you describe more specifically what success he’s had?

Spokesman:  No, I don’t want to go further than that.  There were some principals whom he was strongly encouraging to attend the debate who have since announced that they’re not coming, so I can’t say that it was entirely successful.  But let’s just wait and see how it plays out.  I don’t want to say more than that.

Question:  Even if we have to wait until tomorrow for the Secretary-General’s full schedule, can you say whether he’s meeting with President Arafat?

Spokesman:  That was scheduled this morning for sometime on Sunday.

Question:  Has the 6+2 been scheduled?

Spokesman:  I believe there is a 6+2 scheduled.  (It was later announced that a 6+2 meeting at the political directors level would be held on Saturday with a possible photo op.  At 10 a.m. on Monday, there would be a 6+2 meeting at the ministerial level, complete with a stakeout.  More details would be provided.)

Question:  The Security Council open meeting, on Tuesday, I believe it was, is it at the ministerial level?

Spokesman:  The one on terrorism?  I’ll have to double check.  Check with Manoel, who has those details.

Question:  What role is Iran playing as the Secretary-General prepares to meet the President?

Spokesman:  Well, Iran is chairing the Dialogue among Civilizations meeting which, as you know, is taking place today and tomorrow.  Iran is one of the 6+2 Group on Afghanistan and is a pivotal player in our efforts to get, not only the Afghan parties, but the Afghan neighbours, all pulling in the same direction.  And I’m sure Afghanistan will figure prominently in the Secretary-General’s discussions with the Iranian President later today.

Question:  When does the Secretary-General speak to the Dialogue?

Spokesman:  Check with my Office.  [Later:  It will be Friday, 9 November.]

Briefing by the Spokesman for the General Assembly President

The General Assembly this morning began a discussion of the Dialogue among Civilizations.  You may have seen the publication that gives some background information.  There’s also more on the United Nations Web site, United Nations.org/dialogue, and the debate is being webcast on United Nations.org/webcast/ga/YEARdac.  The speakers’ list is up to 50 now, and we expect to hear about 30 today and the remaining 20, plus any additional speakers, tomorrow.

As Fred mentioned, we managed to get that security briefing scheduled for 1:45 p.m. today.  Some of you had expressed concern about getting hold of the statements once they’re delivered in the General Assembly Hall.  Our colleagues on the third floor have now obtained passes so they should be able to get access to the restricted areas and a colleague from the General Assembly President’s Office will also help out trying to get those statements.  We furthermore hope that many Member States will make their statements available electronically so they can be put on the Web site in a timely manner.

Questions and Answers

Question:  What’s the Web site?

Spokesman:  I’ll get that to you tomorrow.  I’ll also remind you of the farewell coffee for the Dag Hammarskjöld Fellows that the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) is holding.  That’s 2:30 today in the UNCA Club.  The Assembly President will present certificates to the three participants in that briefing.

Question:  Where on the third floor will be the hard copies of the speeches?

Spokesman:  At the documents counter just to the right before you get to

Mr. Eckhard’s Office.

Question:  Any specific procedure for the press to find out what’s going on?

Spokesman:  We’ll try to make the statements available.  They’ll also be on the Web site, to the extent that we get them electronically.  Otherwise, it’s a question of following the proceedings, 30 speakers a day, 20 tomorrow.

Question:  Can somebody squawk when the statements [in the General Debate] are available, instead of us constantly bombarding you with calls?

Spokesman:  That’s a good idea.  I’ll be here all weekend.  Staff from the General Assembly President’s Office will be here.  I trust that the Secretary-General’s Office will also be staffed, so there will be people here you can consult, and we’ll try to set up a system where we’ll be able to squawk the availability of texts.

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