DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

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 the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

** Statement by Secretary-General on Afghanistan-Talks

A happy day in Bonn, Germany, today.  We have the following statement welcoming the outcome of the Afghan talks. (See Press Release SG/SM/8068):

“The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the signing in Bonn today of the 'Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan', which provide for the establishment of an Interim Authority.  He congratulates all concerned –- and particularly the Afghan delegations –- on showing the necessary spirit of compromise to reach this accord, which is an important step towards the achievement of lasting peace and a return to legitimate authority in Afghanistan.

“The Secretary-General notes that the 'Provisional Arrangements' call for the United Nations system to play a multi-faceted role in their implementation.  He wishes to assure the Afghan people, who have endured terrible suffering during the last two decades, that the United Nations stands ready to help them reach peace, stability and prosperity –- and he trusts that Member States will provide the necessary resources and support.

“The Secretary-General also wishes to thank Chancellor Schroeder and the German Government for the support they provided to the Afghan delegations and to Mr. Brahimi's team during the last nine days.”

** Afghanistan -- Talks

As you probably know by now, after meeting throughout the night, the delegates from the four Afghan groups at the Bonn talks this morning signed an agreement on “Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending Re-establishment of Permanent Government Institutions.”  That is the title of the document.

The delegates agreed to set up a cabinet-style, 30-member Interim Authority to be headed by Pashtun leader Sayed Hamid Karzai upon the transfer of power on December 22.

At a press conference following the signing, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, who witnessed the signing, said he was delighted at the outcome but added “the real work starts now.  And the real difficulties are going to start when this Interim Administration that has been agreed upon here moves to Kabul.”

In response to questions, Mr. Brahimi said he would stop in Rome to see the former King of Afghanistan on his way to Kabul, where he wants to see Berhanuddin Rabbani.  He did not elaborate on dates.

The final agreement and its three annexes, including one on an international security force, are available on the internet.

The final list of the Interim Authority members is still not available.  What we do know is that there are two women, including one of the five vice-chairs, and the three posts of defense, interior and foreign ministers are being retained by the incumbents.  Regarding ethnic balance, Mr. Brahimi said they have tried to work out 11 seats for the Pashtuns, eight for the Tajiks, five for the Hazaras, three for the Uzbeks and one or two for the others, the smaller groups.  The group from Cyprus has nobody in this administration.

We also would like to bring to your attention remarks by the Secretary-General to the Afghan Women's Summit for Democracy in Brussels delivered by Angela King, the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women.  The remarks were made available yesterday after the noon briefing.

** Afghanistan -- reconstruction

Mr. Brahimi then traveled to Berlin to open the two-day Afghan Support Group meeting focusing on the immediate and longer-term needs of the people of Afghanistan.

The United Nations team is represented by Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima, High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown.  Presented to the 16-member group were four documents:  A paper on humanitarian response and needs as outlined in the updated Donor Alert for $662 million; a new 30-day Emergency Operational Assistance Plan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) six-month plan of action and a preliminary strategy paper for the transition from relief to long-term recovery.

** Afghanistan –- humanitarian

On the humanitarian front, insufficient accessibility –- which is worsening with the onset of winter –- and overall insecurity in most of Afghanistan, are hampering the ability of the United Nations to deliver aid inside the country.  The entire eastern and southern regions, as well as parts of the north, have been difficult or impossible to reach.

The situation in Mazar-i-Sharif remains volatile, and the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office remains concerned about increasing reports of looting and kidnapping that seem to target Tajik and Pashtun minorities, as well as reports of disappearances and an increase in armed robberies.

United Nations aid agencies are continuing their work, however, with the World Food Programme (WFP) reporting today that a record amount of aid on WFP food trucks was sent from Peshawar, Pakistan, to Afghanistan’s central highlands, with 73 trucks carrying more than 2,300 tons of wheat to the snow-affected area.

As the snows increase, WFP is about halfway to meeting its target of bringing in 16,000 tons of food before the end of this year. Also today, a three-person WFP Avalanche Control Unit received snow equipment, survival gear, skis and snowmobiles, which they hope to bring to Faizabad this weekend.

** WFP/Afghanistan

The WFP has set up communications equipment at the top of a mountain in the center of Kabul, called Asamayi, which had previously served as a site for Afghan military and TV installations.

The mountain –- dubbed “TV Mountain” –- no longer has military installations, and WFP will use it to improve communications for the entire United Nations system in the country.

** Security Council

Following the agreement on Afghanistan reached in Bonn this morning, the Security Council will hold closed consultations this afternoon at 3:00 o'clock.  The Secretary-General will be present and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, will brief.

The Security Council is now holding an open meeting on Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hedi Annabi, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in that country.  Copies of his remarks are available in my office.

All Council members are expected to take the floor.  The representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina will also speak.

** Secretary-General in Oslo and Stockholm

The Secretary-General will leave for Oslo, late Friday afternoon, where he will settle in and have a few bilateral meetings on Saturday.

On Sunday, he and the President of the General Assembly, Han Seung-Soo, who will accept the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the United Nations, will give a joint press conference before participating in a rehearsal for the Nobel Ceremony.  That evening he and the President will have dinner with members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

On Monday, which is the big day, the Secretary-General and his wife Nane, along with the Assembly President and his wife, will meet with more than 2,000 children in the morning.  The Secretary-General and the President will then have an audience with His Majesty King Harald V.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General and the United Nations will be awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, after which they will attend a reception in their honour hosted by the King.  In the evening, they will witness the traditional torchlight procession and attend the Nobel banquet.

On Tuesday the Secretary-General will meet a group of non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives at the Red Cross headquarters.  He will also have meetings with the Norwegian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

In the afternoon he will officially open a donor conference on East Timor, meet with the leadership of the Norwegian Parliament and visit a school project.  In the evening he will attend a concert, which is the concluding event of the Nobel programme.

On Wednesday the Secretary-General will go to Stockholm where he will meet with Swedish Parliamentarians and the Prime Minister and have dinner with the Prime Minister.  On Thursday, he and Nane will have an audience with the King and Queen of Sweden.  He will also meet with Swedish NGOs later in the day.

On Friday 14 December he will return to New York.

** Liberia

The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima, is deeply concerned by attacks by alleged dissidents that have put thousands of civilians at risk in Gbarpolu County, Liberia.  The displacement of 1,413 people by these attacks has nearly doubled the population of the internally displaced persons’ camp in Bopolu, and has strained the its already inadequate resources, creating serious security and health risks for all those seeking refuge there.

Mr. Oshima condemned the attacks and expressed alarm at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in that region.

** UNRWA

In light of the current security situation in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has taken a number of temporary measures to allow it to continue with its work.

UNRWA has temporarily relocated 23 junior-level international staff from Gaza City to its Amman, Jordan, office where they will continue to do their work.  All of the agency’s senior staff, comprising 25 internationals, will be staying in Gaza.

UNRWA schools in Gaza were closed today and they are expected to reopen tomorrow.

For more information, you can pick-up the press release in my office.

** Geneva Convention

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, this morning told delegates of the Conference of Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, that the Security Council and the General Assembly had repeatedly reaffirmed the de jure applicability of this Convention to the occupied Palestinian territories.

“It is important to emphasize,” she said, “that neither the Israeli policy of targeted assassination of Palestinian civilians, nor Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians, can be reconciled with provisions of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

Protecting the victims should be the overriding concern of the United Nations system, she added.  However, the failure to resolve the fundamental problem of occupation combined with the failure by successive Israeli governments to comply with the provisions of the Geneva Convention has left the population of the occupied Palestinian territories in a vulnerable situation.

The full text of her speech is available upstairs.

** Secretary-General on Volunteers

In just a few minutes from now, the Secretary-General will address an event at the General Assembly Hall that marks the close of the International Year of Volunteers, in which he will emphasize how, in these troubled times, volunteers are a shining example of the brave and caring face of our humanity.

Although the Year of Volunteers is now over, he will call for efforts to sustain the momentum built over the past 12 months.

He will then go to the Indonesian lounge to accept a gift from Canada, of a sculpture designed by Anthony Testa of the Royal Canadian Mint, that is dedicated to the spirit of volunteerism.

We have embargoed copies of his remarks as well as of his speech at the closing of the International Year of Volunteers. (See Press Release SG/SM/8070-OBV 257).

** Signings

Today, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants received two more signatures.  Albania and Yemen brought the number of signatories to 109.

** Media Impact Forum

And there is an important Department of Public Information event that I wanted to highlight for you.  As part of the observance of Human Rights Day on 10 December, the Department of Public Information will host a forum tomorrow on the impact of the media on the anti-discrimination agenda of the United Nations.

The forum, which is called “News vs. Propaganda: the Gatekeeper’s Dilemma”, will be moderated by Shashi Tharoor, the Interim Head of the Department of Public Information, and will feature a live video-conference with Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights.  They had also scheduled Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, and we are still hoping that he will participate by video.

The forum begins at 10:30 a.m. in Conference Room 4 and will be webcast live on the United Nations Web site.

We have a note to correspondents with more information.

** Questions and Answers

Question:  Given the difficulties in getting aid into Afghanistan, is there a concern among United Nations officials about the provisions agreed to in Germany concerning security, that it does not go far enough?

Spokesman:  Well, you know the Security Council is yet to take a decision on what security mechanism to choose and where it would be deployed.  So I think it is a little too early to answer that question, except to affirm what you have already said, that insecurity in a number of areas in the country is a problem.  For the sake of our humanitarian programme we would like to see these issues addressed quickly.  The Council is just now, this afternoon, beginning to react formally through these consultations to the agreement reached this morning.

Question:  Fred, I have two questions.  Do you have any idea of Brahimi's schedule now that the agreement has been signed?  And has any agency in the United Nations kept any figures on casualties since the bombing campaign started in October?

Spokesman:  I think Mr. Brahimi is still re-thinking his programme.  From Berlin, where he went today, I think he is going to pass through Brussels and then go to Paris, where he hopes to get some sleep.  His family is based in Paris, and he did not sleep at all last night, nor did any of the others who were involved in the all-night negotiations.  Then I think he will decide whether he will go to Rome and Kabul, which was his initial intent, or to come back here to help in the preparations of the United Nations mission and discussion on the security arrangements.  I think he’s being torn in two directions at the moment, and I don't think that he has finalized his plan.

On your second question, I am not aware that any United Nations agency would have the presence in Afghanistan to keep any reliable records on casualties.  I think that we only get impressionistic accounts either from refugees or internally displaced persons fleeing areas of conflict that might recount stories of casualties.

Question:  I understand that the port of Brindisi, in the South of Italy, is going to be used by the United Nations as a base for humanitarian interventions in Afghanistan.  Does that fall within a bigger plan to use Europe for this purpose?  Secondly, the Afghan seat at the United Nations, once the resolution of the Security Council is passed would that go to the representative of the transitional government being formed now?

Spokesman:  I have not heard that Brindisi, which is our main logistic storage facility, primarily for peacekeeping operations, is going to be used for food aid to Afghanistan.  I think because of the large number of peacekeeping  missions that we have right now, that facility is relatively empty; there is not much in the way of reserves.  It probably is available, but I have not heard that it is.  On the second question, I will leave it to Jan.  I assume that it would be a matter for the Credentials Committee.

Question:  The number of cabinet ministers is changing from 28, to 29 or 30.  DO we know what the ministries are, is there a list of ministries and positions?

Spokesman:  I think you should look at the Web site to see what was put on the web concerning this agreement.  The number of seats crept up a bit to accommodate the demands of the different sides.  We are happy that they have finally agreed on the 30 seats.  We don't have all of the names but I hope we will get them soon.

Question:  Is there a reason there are no representatives on the board from Cyprus?

Spokesman:  I think that if you could crawl into the dynamics of the 24 hours’ negotiations that took place, there is probably an answer to that question, but I don't know what it is.

Question:  What kinds of security arrangements have to be in place in Kabul by 22 December?

Spokesman:  That is precisely what the Council will begin considering this afternoon.  I think it is the Council's intention to provide for security, primarily for Kabul.  Of course, Kabul is essential, because now you are going to have the representatives of all these different groups sitting on this transitional council moving to Kabul, beginning to exercise authority.  There is going to have to be a security arrangement in place.  Its shape and who will provide it, will be discussed formally this afternoon.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

Today, the Assembly is discussing social development, including youth, ageing, disabled persons, the family and volunteering.  As of this morning, the speakers' list was up to 20.  At noon, the Assembly adjourned for an informal segment to mark the closing of the International Year of Volunteers.  During this event, the Acting President, the Ambassador of South Africa, delivered a message on behalf of the President.  He said among other things:

“Today is the close of the International Year of Volunteers 2001.  In almost every member country of the United Nations the Year has been marked in one way or another.  Let us renew our commitment individually and collectively to supporting the volunteer movement because it is people’s desire to help one another which makes for the harmonious and peaceful co-existence which is at the heart of the ideals of the United Nations to which we all aspire.”

Tomorrow, the Assembly will discuss cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations.  You will recall that this is the first time that all of the cooperation items have been clustered, as it is called.

Yesterday afternoon, the Second Committee took action on 13 draft resolutions and decisions.  All were approved without a vote except for one on unilateral economic measures as a means of political coercion, which was adopted with 74 in favour, to 1 against with 47 abstentions, and another resolution on the sovereignty over natural resources in occupied Palestinian territory and in the Syrian Golan with 131 in favour, to 3 against with 2 abstentions.

I should also alert you to the fact that in an effort to finish its work before the scheduled recess date, 21 December, the Fifth Committee will have evening meetings from Monday 10 December.

I got a question regarding the seat of Afghanistan.  Let me first say that I don't know what is in this Interim Agreement.  There might be something in the text already saying that the seat should go to this interim government.  Since 1996 when Kabul fell, there has been some discussion on who should actually occupy the seat of Afghanistan here at the United Nations.  There was no consensus in the Credentials Committee so it was decided to let the matter rest as it was.  So the representatives of Afghanistan that were already here continued to represent the country.  In 1997 the Credentials Committee received credentials from two different Afghan groups and again the Committee decided to defer the decision with the understanding that those who were already representing Afghanistan would continue doing so.

I think that if we have an internationally recognised interim government, they would send their credentials to the Committee which will decide whether to accept or reject those credentials.

** Questions and Answers

Question:  Why would they have to go to the Committee if they are not challenged and the country's borders have not changed?  Would they not just hand them into the Secretary-General?

Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly:  Credentials have to be signed by a head of State or a foreign minister, and we don't know who that will be yet.  I can't say what the Credentials Committee will decide or whether there is something within the agreement saying that this grouping will take over.