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

      Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

Jan and I will try to run through our briefings fairly quickly.  We have a guest today and then a press briefing immediately following it.  Our guest at the noon briefing today will by Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.  He will brief you on Afghanistan.  As you know, he will be participating in the conference on Afghan reconstruction, which begins tomorrow in Washington and which is organized by the Japanese Government and the Government of the United States.  He will be here talking to you about that.

As you may have seen, the Secretary-General asked Mark Malloch Brown to immediately take on the responsibility of leading the early recovery effort in Afghanistan, and it is in that capacity that he will talking to you here.

**Afghanistan –- Political

I’ll start with Afghanistan, where United Nations international staff began returning to Kabul on Saturday for the first time in 65 days.  The first person to step off the plane was the head of the United Nations office in Kabul, Eliane Duthoit.

The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Mike Sackett arrived in Kabul on Saturday.  Mr. Vendrell continues to hold meetings with various Afghan leaders and exchange views on the approach for a political transition presented last week by Lakhdar Brahimi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan.

Among the Afghans with whom Vendrell met on Sunday were Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of the United Front-led Government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, Professor Abdul Rabb Rasul Saayyaf, head of Ettehad Islami, one of the components of the United Front, and with the representatives of the Shuras from the Pashtun south of Afghanistan.

Vendrell is also hoping to meet with the leaders of Hazara groups. Earlier, he met with Abdullah Abdullah, Foreign Minister of the United Front Government.  Francesc Vendrell is awaiting a response from the United Front to the Secretary-General’s invitation for an all-Afghan conference.

**Afghanistan -- Kunduz

Regarding the situation in Kunduz in the northern part of Afghanistan, the United Nations has not been directly contacted about mediating a surrender.  The Secretary-General is very concerned about the situation and has been in touch with the Coalition Forces, which have the capacity to deal with the situation.

Mr. Brahimi has spoken with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which said it was in touch with its people on the ground, and is in touch on this issue with Mr. Vendrell, who is raising this question with his interlocutors in Kabul.

**Afghanistan -- Humanitarian

The United Nations is stepping up its stocktaking of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.  The situation in Kabul is being described as relatively calm, but fragile.  Buses are moving, and trucks are reportedly on the move from Peshawar into Afghanistan as far as Jalalabad.

A preliminary investigation into United Nations offices in Kabul shows that at least eight vehicles and seven radios remain missing.  Reports from Mazar-i-Sharif show that the United Nations guesthouse has been looted, and that there is a need also for mine-action experts to inspect the guesthouse.

United Nations mine-action staff are starting a special training programme today.  This means that they will first be trained to recognize new ordnance and sub-munitions, which will enable them to survey, identify and mark off these materials.

You can have more details on these developments, on the humanitarian front in particular as well as Mr. Vendrell’s meetings, in the briefing notes from Kabul and Islamabad, which are available upstairs.

**Afghanistan –- Human Rights

In a speech given this morning in New Delhi, where she received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said the promotion and protection of human rights is at the heart of the planning for the future of Afghanistan.  The country needs to “break the pattern of human rights abuse, establish a safe environment for its women, men and children and ensure judicial accountability for criminal acts.”

The full text of her speech is available upstairs.

**Secretary-General

On Saturday afternoon, the Secretary-General left New York for a short trip to Ottawa, Canada, to address a private dinner with the members of the Finance and Development Committees of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prior to the dinner, the Secretary-General met with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Foreign Minister John Manley for close to an hour at the Canadian Foreign Ministry.

In a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General said they had discussed the UN’s responsibilities in Afghanistan, both political and humanitarian, as well as the global fight against terrorism.  We put out the transcript of his encounter with the press, which is available on our Web site as well.

In his address to the Ministers and Central Bankers at the dinner, the Secretary-General said there is a need to project a message of hope following the 11 September attacks, and especially emphasized the Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, next March, as one that the world cannot afford to ignore.

The Secretary-General was back in New York Sunday morning.  He will be at Headquarters at lunchtime today for a lunch he is hosting with the Information Communication Technology Task Force, but I’ll get to that in a second.

**Kosovo

I have a statement here, attributable to the Spokesman:  

“The Kosovo Assembly elections of 17 November constitute a major step forward in the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), by giving the people of Kosovo provisional self-governing institutions to ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants.  This should be a milestone in the development of an inclusive, prosperous and democratic Kosovo.”

“The Secretary-General fully supports the arrangements in place for the elections.  He hopes that all eligible voters, irrespective of ethnic background or political affiliation, will exercise the democratic right to vote and choose their leaders.  Democracy is about participation and inclusiveness.  Every vote counts.”

On Saturday, the people of Kosovo voted for their legislature, with high voter turnout and a peaceful, orderly scene at the polls, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo reported.  The voting was praised by the Mission as a success, and the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Kosovo, Daan Everts, said it was “a testimony to Kosovo’s democratic maturity.”

By Saturday night, with three-quarters of precincts reporting in, the Mission and the OSCE said that some 63 per cent of eligible voters in Kosovo, as well as select polling stations in Serbia and Montenegro, turned out to vote. The preliminary results of the voting will be announced on Monday evening.

We have a press release from the United Nations Mission and the OSCE with more details.

**Security Council

The Security Council will be meeting in closed consultations this afternoon at 3 p.m. to hear a briefing from Ambassador Mahmoud Kassem, the chair of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The report is already out on the racks and shortly after this briefing, meaning shortly after our guest at the noon briefing today, Mark Malloch Brown, Ambassador Kassem will brief you on the report.  His comments, however, are embargoed until the conclusion of the Security Council’s consultations this afternoon.

With this report, the Panel confirms that the exploitation of the DRC’s natural resources for the enrichment of a wide range of actors, both foreign and Congolese, continues unabated.  The web of interests represented by the current beneficiaries has ensured that the war remains a self-financing and self-sustaining affair.  Not surprisingly, the Congolese people do not figure among the beneficiaries of this unfettered and increasingly systematized exploitation.

The report is available on the racks.

**United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Report

Also out today is the Secretary-General’s latest report to the Security Council on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, known as UNDOF, which operates in the area of the Golan Heights.  As you can read in the document, the Secretary-General reports that, in light of the prevailing circumstances in the region, he recommends that the Council extends UNDOF’s mandate for a further six months.

He also makes mention of the financial shortfall of the forces funding and appeals to Member States to pay their dues, so as to cover the $19 million in unpaid assessments.

**Biological Weapons Convention

The Fifth Review Conference of the States which are party to the Biological Weapons Convention kicked off in Geneva this morning, and Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala delivered a message from the Secretary-General welcoming that meeting.  We gave you embargoed copies of that message on Friday.  Seventy-two delegations, or half the State Parties to the Convention, attended the opening of the three-week conference.

At a press conference today, Dhanapala was asked about recent anthrax attacks in the United States and said that, if anything, those incidents made it more urgent for States to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention so that incidents of that nature do not occur.  We have the highlights of that press briefing upstairs.

**United Nations Information and Communications Technologies Task Force

The United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force began its inaugural meeting today.  The official launch will take place tomorrow in the Economic and Social Council Chamber at 10:00 a.m.  The ICT was mandated last year by the Secretary-General, to find new, creative ways to spread the benefits of the digital revolution to the four billion people worldwide who are currently excluded. 

The Task Force, chaired by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, José María Figueres Olsen (former President of Costa Rica) is made up of members of the public and private sectors, civil society and the scientific community, leaders of the developing and transition economies as well as the most technologically advanced.

The Secretary-General is hosting a luncheon today for the members of the Task Force and is expected to address the gathering tomorrow when the Web site of the Task Force (www.unicttaskforce.org) will be launched as well.

**Press Releases

The United Nations Children's Fund has issued a media advisory that a 14-year-old former child soldier from Sierra Leone will address tomorrow’s Security Council meeting on Children and Armed Conflict.  This is the first time the Council has invited a child to address a meeting, and highlights the importance of involving children in decisions that affect them directly.  The media advisory is available in the Spokesman’s Office.

We also have available the briefing notes from the mission in East Timor, which tells you about the joint Border Committee meeting taking place today between East Timorese and Indonesian officials.  Among issues being discussed is the “Right of Passage” proposal that would allow East Timorese in the enclave of Oecussi to travel through West Timor to other districts in East Timor.

Concluding this briefing, at about 12:45 today, as I said earlier, Ambassador Mahmoud Kassem, Chairman of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will brief on the Panel’s recent report.  That briefing, as I said, is embargoed.

The guest at tomorrow’s briefing will be José María Figueres, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Information and Communication Technology.  At 1:30 tomorrow, Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, will brief on the Security Council resolution on children and armed conflict.

Before we got to Mark and to Jan, are there any questions?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  You said that the response is being awaited from the United Front on the all-Afghan conference.  How does that reconcile with reports that the United Front has already agreed to this meeting and that sites in Europe are already being scouted?

Deputy Spokesman:  All it means is that in Kabul Vendrell has not had confirmation and he’s working with all parties to get them to participate in this meeting.  We are very hopeful that the meeting will be confirmed very soon. Mr. Brahimi will announce the meeting in New York as soon as we have the agreement of all parties.

Question:  Can you describe generally the activity upstairs of Ambassador Brahimi, how he is seized of this?  He’s on the phone.  What kind of phone calls was he making over the weekend -- just a broad idea of the activity upstairs?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don’t have a log of his phone calls, David.  I can try to look into that for you.  Mr. Brahimi, of course, is in constant contact with Fransesc Vendrell, his deputy, also with the humanitarian people, and obviously with the Secretary-General and with all those parties that have an interest and influence on this case.  It’s very important that this meeting takes place quickly and he’s working on that.

Question:  You also mentioned that Mr. Vendrell was meeting with the representatives of the Shuras of the Pashtun in the south.  Could you identify those people?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don’t have more than what I just gave you.

Question:  On that same subject, besides the Northern Alliance or the United Front, who else is confirmed for this meeting?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don’t think we have a breakdown of each of the participants, but as I said, the announcement will be made by Mr. Brahimi as soon as he’s in a position to do that.

Question:  Do you have any information about whether the United Nations will be involved in providing safe passage to the Taliban to other places?

Deputy Spokesman: What I mentioned is that that’s an issue about which the Secretary-General is very concerned.  If you’re taking about Kunduz, the Secretary-General is very concerned about that.  He has been in touch with the coalition forces, which have the capacity to deal with a situation regarding the surrender of forces.

Mr. Brahimi, also at the request of the Secretary-General, has been in contact with the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross.  The ICRC is in touch with their people on the ground and is also in touch with Mr. Vendrell, who is on the ground in Kabul.  Mr. Vendrell is raising this matter with all the interlocutors that he has in Kabul as well.

Question:  Can you just expand a little bit on what the Secretary-General’s concerns are about the situation on the ground in Kunduz?

Deputy Spokesman:  We don’t have first-hand reports ourselves, but a number of people reportedly want to surrender and find some sort of arrangement for the end of military action locally.  He is concerned that that is done in the best way possible, and that is why he’s had the contacts he’s had.

I invite Jan to do his briefing.

Briefing by Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

**Millennium Summit

The General Assembly met in plenary this morning to discuss the outcome of the Millennium Summit.  The Secretary-General’s report on the issue, the so-called “Road Map report”, was issued in early September as document A/56/326.

As part of the follow-up to the Millennium Summit, the Secretary-General formed the Youth Employment Network and appointed a high-level panel to prepare policy recommendations regarding youth employment.  The recommendations are out as document A/56/422.  When I last checked, there were 38 speakers on the list, so depending on the length of the statements the Assembly may be able to conclude its discussion of this item today.

**Assembly Agenda

Last Thursday, I alerted you to a meeting of the Sixth Committee today, during which the issue of international terrorism would come up, but I couldn’t say when.  The Chairman of the Sixth Committee this morning outlined the agenda. The first item will be on human cloning, the next on the safety of United Nations personnel, followed by reports of the International Law Commission and the International Trade Law Commission.

The Committee will then deal with the agenda item on the International Criminal Court, observer status for Partners in Population and Development, and cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, before taking up item 166 -- measures to eliminate international terrorism.

The Committee is expected to take action on a number of draft resolutions today, as outlined in the daily Journal.  Around 11:30 the Committee actually adopted the draft resolution on cloning without a vote.

**General Debate

The general debate ended around 5:30 Friday afternoon, and during the seven days we heard 188 speakers and, as you will have seen from press release L/T 4365, Member States also undertook a total of 175 treaty actions.  Speaking about press releases, more than 400 pages in English and French were produced since last Saturday, when the general debate began.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  So what does that mean about when they’re going to take up the international terrorism report?  Does that mean later today or tomorrow or when?

Spokesman:  I’m not sure how long these other items will go on.  There are some draft resolutions and, depending on whether there are speakers or not, it may actually go quite quickly.  I have not seen the text of the draft resolution regarding terrorism, but somebody from the Legal Office told me last week he expected it out today some time.  They’ll first discuss it, but action on the resolution itself is not expected until tomorrow, or possibly Wednesday.

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