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.

Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

As you may know, tomorrow the General Assembly will discuss the closing of the International Year of Volunteers, and to mark that occasion there will be a special event at 12 o'clock, which the Secretary-General will attend and at which he will make remarks.  Today's guest is Sharon Capeling-Alakija, the Executive Coordinator of United Nations Volunteers, to tell you more about this year.

**Afghanistan Talks

At 1:00 a.m., Bonn time, the four Afghan parties and the UN team gathered to discuss their political future agreed on what the spokesman for the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi described as "a road map to a free and independent Afghanistan over a period of two and a half years.”

Spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said, “If all goes well, we hope to have a signing ceremony tomorrow ".  That would be Wednesday.  The text lays the groundwork for an interim administration to take office in Kabul as soon as possible.

The delegates at the UN-sponsored talks are now focusing on finalizing the list of members who will serve on the 29-member cabinet-style Interim Authority.

Fawzi said there are about 150 names, and the UN team, in consultation with the Afghan parties, is distilling these lists and creating a short list that will then be submitted to the group as a whole later today.  The last remaining item will be to decide when the Interim Authority takes effect.  At the moment, there’s a blank space in the document to insert a date.

“We’re going to find an appropriate date for all concerned, taking into consideration rapidly changing events in Kabul and in Afghanistan, taking into consideration the month of Ramadan and taking into consideration the urgent need of the people for a transfer of power,” Fawzi said.

**Afghanistan -- Reconstruction

In Berlin tomorrow, a two-day conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan is scheduled to begin.  The meeting, organized under the auspices of the 16-member Afghanistan Support Group, is presently chaired by Germany.

Mr. Brahimi has been invited to the conference along with representatives of United Nations agencies concerned with the reconstruction process -- Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima; the High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers; and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Mark Malloch Brown.

**Afghanistan -- Other

Inside Afghanistan, one Afghan deminer was killed and three injured in Kabul yesterday.  They were staff of Halo Trust, one of the non-governmental organizations under the umbrella of the UN Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan.

The accident occurred east of Kabul at a site, described as a big open pit, for destroying unexploded ordnance.  The staff were moving some of the unexploded ordnance into this pit, when one piece exploded.

You can read more about the UN’s demining efforts in the briefing notes from Kabul.

The notes from Kabul and a more detailed version from Islamabad contain updates of humanitarian efforts by local staff in Mazar-i-Sharif, concerns about reaching those in need in Kandahar, as well as updates from the areas where UN has redeployed international staff.

**Cyprus

We have good news on Cyprus today.  The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman:

The Secretary-General is very pleased at the agreement reached today by

Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash to start direct negotiations in mid-January 2002, at his invitation.

In the exercise of his mission of good offices, the Secretary-General is ready to assist the parties as necessary in their effort to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

**Security Council

The President of the Security Council for the month of December, Ambassador Moctar Ouane of Mali, is chairing closed consultations this morning to finalize the Council’s programme of work for this month.

Once the programme is agreed upon, it will be available in the Security Council’s page in the United Nations Web site.

**Secretary-General addresses Parliamentarians

The Secretary-General welcomed members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to the United Nations this morning, where they are holding their annual meeting.  The IPU is made up of Parliamentarians from 142 democracies around the world.

The Secretary-General said in his remarks, "The parliamentary voice -- the voice of the people -- must be an integral component of the work of the United Nations".

The Secretary-General recommended in June that the General Assembly grant Observer Status to the IPU.

We have the full text in my office.

**Secretary-General on Kittani

The Secretary-General is now attending a memorial service for his friend and colleague, Ismat Kittani, who died in October after a long battle with cancer.

"Kittani embodied the kind of unassuming leadership that made those around him feel motivated, rather than intimidated," the Secretary-General will say in his remarks at the service; "the kind of optimism that made you feel that with every problem there really did come an opportunity; and the kind of integrity that made you realize he was not interested in scoring points -- except at the poker table."

He will sum up by saying that Kittani cared deeply about the United Nations and cared about other people.  "He was a gentleman -- in the best and truest sense of the word."

We have the full text of his remarks available upstairs.

**Update -– Iraq Programme

In its weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme, there is a report that $84 million in excess funds are being transferred from the UN Iraq account, designated for UN administrative and operational costs under the oil-for-food programme, to the account identified for the purchase of humanitarian supplies by the Government of Iraq in the 15 central and southern governorates.

The savings, which were the result of UN administrative and operational cost-minimizing efforts, as directed by the Secretary-General, were accrued under phase X of the programme.

This is the third such transfer of excess funds.  To date, a total of

$211 million in cost-savings has been redistributed.

In terms of Iraq’s weekly oil exports, 18.7 million barrels were loaded from the two authorized terminals of Mina al-Bakr and Ceyhan.

The full text of update is available upstairs.

**Sierra Leone

We have a press release from the UN mission in Sierra Leone regarding a meeting between the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Oluyemi Adeniji and the Special Adviser on War-Affected Children to the Canadian Minister for International Cooperation, a name you will all recognize, Lieutenant General Romeo A. Dallaire -- he led the United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda.

Mr. Adeniji briefed the Canadian envoy on the disarmament exercise under way.  He said more than 37,000 ex-combatants have being disarmed since 18 May.

He also said the reintegration and rehabilitation of the ex-combatants was the most important phase, for which Sierra Leone needed the assistance of the international community.  The current benefits the ex-combatants are getting are not enough, he said.

The UN Force Commander Lieutenant General Daniel I. Opande told the delegation that the quality of weapons turned in by the ex-combatants has been good.

**United Nations Vienna Award

Three individuals and one non-governmental organization are the recipients of this year’s UN Vienna Civil Society Award.  Saida Benhabyles of Algeria, Athanase Rwamo of Burundi and Veronica Colondam of Indonesia as well as the Peruvian non-governmental organization Instituto Mundo Libre have been chosen for their “outstanding contributions to the global campaign against drug abuse, crime and terrorism.”

The award, which was established in 1999 by the Austrian Government, the city of Vienna and the UN Office comes with a US$100,000 prize, which will also be shared by the four recipients.  Each one will receive a medal and a certificate.

The award ceremony will be held at the Vienna City Hall tomorrow.  For more details, we have a press release.

**Signings

A few signings today, three in all -- the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism got two more signatures this morning when Kenya and Rwanda brought the number of signatories to 125.

Also this morning, the Republic of Congo became the 107^th country to sign the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

**Press Releases

And finally in a press release today, the United Nations Environment Programme said that there has been significant reduction in the storage capacity of reservoirs worldwide due to sedimentation.  A new study indicates that, on average, one per cent of the world’s reservoir capacity is being lost annually because of the build-up of mud and silt.  The natural rate of soil erosion is being accelerated by the severity of storms and rains due to global warming and the clearing of forests for agriculture.  The study shows that the levels of erosion from hillsides planted with crops are 150 times higher than on naturally forested hillsides.

If you are interested in that, there is a press release.

That is all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you have any sense out of Bonn about the timing of a proposed mandated multinational peacekeeping force?

Spokesman:  I don't know if it came up, I don't believe anything was said about a multinational force today.  [In fact, Ahmad Fawzi did take a question on the timing of an MNF today -– see transcript.]

Question:  We had some questions yesterday that we asked about the two United Nations staffers who were quizzed by the United States, you said you would give us a follow-up.

Spokesman:  We did talk to the head of the Staff Union to try to get a sense of what happened, and we have asked for an explanation from our own administration to see what our position is.  This would allow us to see if information that should have been kept confidential, concerning annual leave records of one staff member according to the Staff Union and remarks made by another staff member at an internal meeting here in the building.  We don't know how this information got transferred to the United States security agents and if it was consistent with our own rules and regulations.

There is a statement that I forgot to read earlier, it must have skipped a page.

**Middle East

It concerns the Middle East and is attributable to the Spokesman.

“The Secretary-General is increasingly concerned about the ongoing vicious cycle of violence and retaliation in the Middle East.  He continues to believe that there can be no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The Secretary-General urges both sides to live up to their commitments to implement the Mitchell report and the Tenet understandings, and to avoid any action that could make the search for a way out of the present crisis more difficult.”

Question:  Is there any other sign of activity regarding the Middle East, is there any movement in the Security Council?

Spokesman:  The President is still talking bilaterally about the programme of work, I am not aware that there has been any request for a meeting on the Middle East.

Question:  Has the Secretary-General been in contact with either Yasser Arafat or Ariel Sharon in the past 24 hours?

Spokesman:  He had a call from President Arafat yesterday.  I don' t know if he has spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister.  I don't know whether it was Arafat who made the call to the Secretary-General or vice-versa, but they discussed the events of yesterday.

Question:  United States security officials have issued a state of alert warning.  Has the United Nations done anything different in terms of security in light of this announcement?

Spokesman:  Nobody has contacted me with any further information, I am not sure if we announce it every time we increase security measures in response to stimulus from the outside.  I am not sure I would be able to answer the question, even if I knew the answer.

Question:  The Israeli government has used the term self-defence, does this fit with the Security Council's understanding of the term self-defence?

Spokesman:  You would have to ask the members of the Council, I can't speak for them on this point.

Question:  Anything new on the AIDS fund that the Secretary-General is amassing, in terms of numbers or countries?

Spokesman:  I can give you an update after I check.  It did come up in his discussions in Washington last week.  But it was just a brief review of the status, I would have to check the files for the precise numbers.  [See further reply below.]

Question:  What would be the timetable regarding the seating here at the United Nations of a transitional Afghan government?

Spokesman:  That seating is a matter for the Credentials Committee, so I don't know whether Jan will have anything to add, but as you know the Credentials Committee has deferred taking action on the Afghan seat for years now.  So you would have to look to them for a change.

Ok, thank you.  Jan?

Briefing by Spokesman for President of General Assembly

Thank you.

Yesterday, after the General Assembly had adopted the draft resolutions on Jerusalem and on the Syrian Golan, several Member States took the floor saying that they had missed the vote and indicated how they had intended to vote.  A couple of you asked me if this meant that the voting records would be amended to reflect this intention, so let me just clarify that when a Secretariat official declares that the voting machine is locked, it means exactly that.  However, Member States can request that the records include a footnote saying something like “subsequently, the delegation of x country informed the Secretariat that it would have voted . . . .”

This morning, the plenary continued its discussion on the item on Africa. There are 14 speakers on the list, so we expect the consideration of this item to conclude with action on draft resolution A/56/L.28.  Last year, a similar resolution was adopted without a vote.

You should note that the draft resolution was amended yesterday.  The last phrase in operative paragraph 9 will now read: “. . . and requests that the task force be strengthened with the necessary human, managerial and administrative resources to effectively carry out this task;”

No plenary meeting is scheduled for this afternoon, but tomorrow the Assembly will discuss social development, including youth, aging, disabled persons, and the family.  At noon, the Assembly will adjourn and there will be an informal segment to mark the closing of the International Year of Volunteers.  I am sure our guest will have more to say about that.  It will start at 12:00 and of course, there is more information on the Web site and in the journal.

This afternoon, the Second Committee is expected to take action on 18 draft resolutions including one on the sovereignty over natural resources in occupied Palestinian territory and in the Syrian Golan.  That is draft resolution A/C.2/56/L.29.

Do you have any questions for me?  Let me say right away that I do not have an answer regarding the Credentials Committee but I will see what I can find out. 

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Which countries said they missed the vote?

Spokesman for President of General Assembly:  There were actually quite a number of them and not all of them were given the floor.  They were encouraged to contact the Secretariat afterwards to have this footnote inserted.  It was at least Brunei Darussalam, Australia and New Zealand.  The meeting was stopped for a while yesterday for consultations, and apparently the meeting started again a bit abruptly, so some Member States were not present in the GA hall.  It happens at times.

Spokesman for Secretary-General:  And Richard, I have for you the statistics from yesterday which says we have $ 1,582,412,466 in the Global Fund to fight AIDS.  You can have the sheet that has the breakdown.

Question:  I'd rather have the money.

Thank you.

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