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

The guest at today's briefing will be Carolyn McAskie, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, to update you on our humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

**Afghanistan

The final version of the agreement reached in Bonn, including the composition of the 30-member Interim Administration, has been made public a short while ago.

Here at Headquarters, the Security Council is holding consultations this morning on a resolution endorsing that agreement, with the possibility of a formal meeting later.

The Council was briefed by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast on the agreement yesterday afternoon and, in a press statement following that session, Council President Moctar Ouane welcomed the agreement and urged the parties to work together from now on in good faith to implement the agreement in full.

He said the Council declares its readiness to support the implementation of the agreement and its annexes.

**Afghanistan -- Field Reports

Carolyn McAskie, as I said, is going to be here shortly.

A UN security assessment to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan has given the green light for UN international staff to return.  The UN Regional Coordinator for Bamiyan was headed there today by road from Kabul.

A 17-member UN survey team, to assess support requirements for a possible enhanced UN presence in the region, arrived in Islamabad this morning.

In the north, the suffering of internally displaced persons, especially children, has worsened.  Some surveys suggest that the nutritional condition of the internally displaced around Mazar-i-Sharif is quite serious.

In camps along the Afghanistan-Iran border, many of the displaced persons are digging holes in the ground in order to protect themselves from the sub-zero night temperatures, as well as from sandstorms.

The UNHCR says the rate of return from Iran to western Afghanistan is increasing. Yesterday, a record 2,000 Afghans returned, mainly to Herat.  More than 24,000 refugees have returned since the Taliban’s hold on Herat was broken on 12 November.

The World Food Programme (WFP) hopes to restart the barge operation from Termez in south Uzbekistan to Hairaton.  Food has not been barged for a couple of weeks due to insecurity.  The WFP is also attempting to send the trucks from Hairaton through Mazar-i-Sharif into areas of the north in the coming days. Success will depend on security vastly improving.

The Salang Tunnel, which is a key link between Kabul and Mazar, has been reopened.  It remains heavily damaged and can be passed only on foot.  The damage inside the tunnel is substantial and its reconstruction could take much longer than previously thought.

**Security Council

In addition to the discussion on Afghanistan that I already mentioned, during consultations this morning the Security Council also discussed the quarterly report of the Secretary-General on the UN Monitoring and Verification Inspection Commission.  Hans Blix, the Executive Chairman of the Commission, introduced the report which came out last week. 

The Council is now discussing the situation in the Central African Republic.  Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefed Council members.

**Kosovo

Early this morning in Kosovo, a suspicious letter was discovered at the UN Mission in Kosovo’s mailroom, apparently found in a letter addressed to a UN official that was in the diplomatic pouch from New York.  When a local staff member opened the letter, he came into contact with a white powder inside the envelope.

UN security officers quickly cordoned off the affected area and the building was evacuated.  Five of the people who had come in contact with the envelope showed symptoms of vomiting and skin rash; all those who are believed to have been exposed were treated at Pristina Hospital, where doctors believe the powder was toxic, but not life-threatening.  All the affected persons have now left the hospital and are not believed to have suffered any further symptoms from the incident.

Security officers and members of the Regional Serious Crime Unit are investigating the matter, interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence.  The substance in the envelope will be analysed.  But at this stage, it is not believed to be anthrax.  The investigation is continuing.

**MTCT-Plus

During a working dinner tonight, the Secretary-General will meet with a number of private philanthropic foundations, which are expected to announce a major initiative to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

The programme, called MTCT-Plus, (for mother-to-child transmission), aims at extending care and prevention to mothers, and increasing the chance of survival for infected children, as well as mothers. 

The foundations’ goal is to raise $100 million for the project, which will initially focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

As you will recall, MTCT is one of the five points in the Secretary-General’s Call to Action on HIV/AIDS.  The Secretary-General will tell the philanthropists that the MTCT-Plus initiative is a wonderful example of the role that foundations can play in the fight against AIDS.  He is confident that their example will encourage and energize others to act.

The full text of the Secretary-General’s remarks at tonight’s dinner is available under embargo.  And also available is a press release issued by the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, which will be coordinating the MTCT-Plus initiative on behalf of the foundations.

For full details on this initiative, there will be a press briefing tomorrow morning, at 11 o’clock.  Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, along with Gordon Conway, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Allan Rosenfeld, the Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health, will be here to tell you all about mother-to-child transmission and the new programme.

**UNHCR  

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) today announced a set of specific proposals to governments, reviewing asylum systems from a security point of view after the 11 September attacks.

We advise you to see their press release for details.

**ICTY

Today in The Hague, a Bosnian Serb who had been convicted of crimes at the Keraterm detention camp and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, was released from the detention unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, one day after Judge Claude Jorda issued an order for his early release.

The detainee, Dragan Kolundzija, had already served more than two years and five months of the sentence, and Jorda made the decision to grant early release after acknowledging the accused’s willingness to reintegrate into society, his determination not to commit other offences and his exemplary behaviour during detention.

**Burkina Faso

About half a million people in Burkina Faso -- or close to 10 per cent of the adult population -- are infected with HIV/AIDS, making it one of the worst hit countries in the world, according to a new report published with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Burkina Faso Human Development Report says that the country is now behind only Côte d’Ivoire as the most AIDS-affected country in West Africa.  The pandemic will orphan 350,000 children in Burkina Faso by the end of this year, and it has reduced life expectancy by 11 years, compared to what could be expected based on the trend before the pandemic.

HIV/AIDS has affected all sectors of society, but for women between the ages of 15 and 24, says the report, the prevalence rate is five to eight times higher than that of men.

We have a press release on that.

**Food and Agriculture Organization

In another press release today, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced a new publication on aqua-culture.  “Aqua-culture in the Third Millennium” is a report of the Conference on Aqua-culture that was held in February of this year, and is the most comprehensive review to date of the development of aqua-culture.  The report says that, in the next 20 years, aqua-culture will contribute more to the global fish supply and to the reduction of poverty and food insecurity.

**United Nations Children's Fund

And from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there is a press release embargoed until tomorrow on the Ninth International Children's Day of Broadcasting, which takes place on Sunday.

**Sesame Street

And on that subject, this afternoon the Secretary-General will travel to Kaufman-Astoria studios in Queens to tape a segment for Sesame Street, the children’s TV show.

The setting for his appearance is the following:

During a game of limbo, Elmo, Telly, Zoe, Rosita, Gover, as well as Lulu, begin to fight over whose turn it is to go next and who gets to sing the alphabet song.  Soon after the argument erupts, the Secretary-General arrives, and in a fine display of conflict resolution skills, saves the day and they all agree to sing the alphabet song in unison. 

Question:  Including the Secretary-General?

Spokesman:  I suppose so.

In the end, the monsters learn an important lesson in compromise, topped off in a group hug with the Secretary General.

The segment will air on 4 February during Sesame Street’s 33rd season.

**Signings

Today, Pakistan became the 110th country to sign the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

**Student Conference on Human Rights

And as part of the observation of the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, the Department of Public Information has organized its fourth student conference on human rights that will take place tomorrow.  About

40 students and teachers here at Headquarters will join by videoconference thousands of others in Canada, Egypt, Mexico, Sierra Leone and the United States.

That will begin at 10 a.m. in Conference Room 8, and there is a note to correspondents available on the racks.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The issue of the letter, you said it was from this Building.  Any idea who the letter was from?

Spokesman:  No, but it passed through Skopje, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and it had been slit open.  It is hard to say, it may be unlikely that the substance was placed in the envelope here.  But, as I say, it is still under investigation. 

Question:  If it was mailed here, it could have been mailed in the public section as well, right?

Spokesman:  No, because it was the pouch.  It would have been internal mail, staff member to staff member, and all of those are individually numbered and accounted for.  But it may have been tampered with in the process of transiting from New York to Pristina.

Question:  Does the Secretary-General have any plans to go to Cyprus or travel to discuss anything with the Cyprus parties?

Spokesman:  No, there have been some press reports to that effect, but at this time I am not aware of any travel plans that he has for January.  So that is actually neither a yes nor a no, but at this time there is no such plan.

Question:  Shashi Tharoor is mediating a very interesting media forum in the Building today.  Is there any chance that some kind of summary will be issued?

Spokesman:  I think it was carried live on in-house television, and I will have to ask DPI if they provide a summary.  I will relay that request to them. 

Question:  Is the situation in Congo [DRC] being monitored?

Spokesman:  I personally don't have anything for you on that today, but, of course, the Peacekeeping Department monitors it every day.  Do you want me to look into it to see if there is anything to report?

Briefing by the Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly

Good afternoon.

Today in the General Assembly, it is all about cooperation.  We have

46 Member States and the representatives of eight international organizations scheduled to speak on the item entitled “Cooperation between the UN and regional and other organizations”.  In the course of the day, 11 draft resolutions will be introduced.  Since this is the first time the cooperation items have been clustered, the procedure is slightly different from what we normally see. Earlier, the Assembly would hear speakers on one item, then proceed to the next item, hear speakers, and so on.  But this time, the speakers may address all or some aspects of cooperation.  In other words, the Member States will speak only once.  Depending on the length of the statements, the discussion on this item may continue tomorrow.

I have had a couple of questions regarding the seat of Afghanistan, so I have contacted the Office of Legal Affairs and a member of the Credentials Committee, but have not yet obtained the answers some of you were looking for. However, there will be a meeting between the Legal Office and the Credentials Committee this afternoon, so I hope to have answers for you tomorrow.

Thank you.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General:  I have one more thing before we go to Carolyn.  We have just learned of the death of Sir Peter Blake, who was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Environment Programme earlier this year.  He was a yachtsman, who headed the New Zealand team that won the America's Cup 1995 and 2000.  He apparently was killed in the Amazon, reportedly in an attack by pirates.

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