DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
| Press Briefing |
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.
**Secretary-General in Stockholm
I'll start with the Secretary-General's schedule in Stockholm, Sweden, where he arrived this morning from Oslo, Norway. He met at the Nobel Foundation with his fellow Nobel Laureates who received awards this year. As you know, of the Nobel awards only the Peace Prize is given in Oslo. All the others are in Stockholm, so he met his 2001 Nobel Laureate colleagues in Stockholm.
At mid-day he went to the Parliament, where he was greeted by Speaker Brigitta Dahl. He addressed a session of the Parliament, speaking primarily about Afghanistan and the Middle East, and then took questions from Parliament members. He told the Parliamentarians that talks between the Palestinians and Israelis should not wait for any period of calm, because it is when people are dying that peace talks are needed most.
On the future role of the United Nations, he said the Organization would put people at the centre of what it does, and emphasized the fight against poverty, for girls’ education and the search for a cure for AIDS as priorities for the United Nations.
In response to a question on the fight against poverty, he stressed the importance of the conferences to be held next year on financing for development, which will be in Monterrey, Mexico, as you know, and the summit on sustainable development which is to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Secretary-General also paid tribute to his predecessor, Dag Hammarskjöld, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously in 1961.
The Speaker then hosted a luncheon in the Secretary-General’s honor.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with Prime Minister Goran Persson.
After that meeting, the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister met briefly with the press. The Prime Minister said they had discussed the Middle East, Afghanistan and the importance of the two upcoming United Nations conferences for invigorating the dialogue between rich and poor countries. The Secretary-General added that the conferences must yield concrete results for the poor.
Asked his view on the possibility that the United States may extend its war on terrorism to Iraq, the Secretary-General said, “My position on that has been clear: I don’t think it would be wise and I should not advise it.”
In the evening, the Prime Minister hosted a dinner for the Secretary-General.
We are expecting to receive from Stockholm the full transcripts of his press encounters. We don't have them yet. As soon as we do, we will announce it and they will be available to you as well.
**Afghanistan
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, is stopping over in Islamabad on his way back from Kabul.
In what his spokesman described as a “very cordial and friendly” meeting, Mr. Brahimi had talks with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, during which he briefed the Pakistani leader of his just-concluded visit to Kabul and his talks with the various Afghan leaders there.
Mr. Brahimi expressed his appreciation for Pakistan’s support for efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan. And President Musharraf expressed 100 per cent support for the Bonn Agreement, a sentiment repeated during a later meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.
In his meetings with United Nations staff in Islamabad, Mr. Brahimi encouraged the United Nations system to empower Afghans to run their country.
Mr. Brahimi is expected to be back at United Nations Headquarters on Friday.
While in Stockholm, the Secretary-General, asked about Afghanistan, told reporters that Mr. Brahimi had had good discussions in Kabul, and added that he believes the Afghan parties will help create a secure environment for our activities and for the establishment of a new government. “We are not going to impose anything on anybody, but to help ensure that constructive activities can be carried out.”
On developments in the field, particularly in the humanitarian field, in Afghanistan, here is what our sister-agencies have told us:
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that in a worst-case scenario, some 100,000 children may die in the coming six months unless enough emergency relief aid reaches them and reaches them quickly. By “worst case”, UNICEF assumes limited humanitarian access and increased mortality rates linked to preventable diseases and exacerbated by high rates of malnutrition.
The World Food Programme (WFP) described the difficulties it is encountering in its efforts to deliver food throughout Afghanistan. On Monday, WFP said, a truck carrying wheat was destroyed by a landmine on a road about 120 kilometres outside of Kabul. The driver received relatively minor injuries. Initial reports note that the load of wheat he was carrying saved his life.
Yesterday morning, United Nations staff crossed the Friendship Bridge into the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, using this route for the first time since 1996. The United Nations convoy reached Mazar at 3 p.m. after a stop in Hairaton, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported.
As from today, up to five United Nations staff members will be based in Mazar-i-Sharif to cover areas in the north where an estimated 3 million people depend on aid, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office of Afghanistan.
**Security Council
The Council will meet this afternoon in closed consultations to take up the Secretary-General’s latest report on United Nations operations in Cyprus. Council members will be briefed by the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto.
Following that discussion, Council members will review the latest report of the Panel of Experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Still on the Council, we have upstairs the text of the statement made by the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Moctar Ouane of Mali, to the Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
In his statement, Ambassador Ouane told the board that UNICEF and the Council may seek to establish joint mechanisms designed to ensure that the actions and decisions of UNICEF and the Council are complementary and mutually enforcing.
The full text of that statement is in the Spokesman's Office.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
The head of the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amos Ngongi, and the Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeepers, General Mountaga Diallo, left Kinshasa early this morning for Goma.
The two, who are also accompanied by the Ambassador of Belgium to the Democratic Republic and the ambassadors representing the five Permanent members of the Security Council, will be meeting with the leadership of the Congolese Rally for Democracy to discuss the implementation of the latest Council resolution on the Democratic Republic of the Congo which authorizes Phase III of the United Nations mission’s deployment.
Specifically, they will touch upon the deployment of United Nations troops in Kindu as well the demilitarization of Kisangani.
The chief of mission, the Force Commander and the six Ambassadors will go to Kindu tomorrow and then return to Kinshasa later that day.
**Northern Ireland
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, will leave on Saturday for a four-day visit to Northern Ireland. He will meet with members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and other government officials as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), child rights activists and children. He will leave Belfast for London on Wednesday, 19 December.
**Budget
On the racks today is the second performance report on the programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001. The report presents the estimate of the final level of expenditures and income for the biennium, taking into consideration changes in rates of exchange, inflation and cost of living adjustments. The revisions amount to a net increase of $28.9 million, reflecting an increase in expenditure of
$27.8 million and a decrease in income of $1.1 million. The budget estimate for the biennium was revised to $2.5 billion. The increase is equivalent approximately to one per cent of the budget, slightly over one per cent.
**Press Releases
There is a press release from the World Health Organization (WHO) on assistance to the Government of Gabon in response to the outbreak of Ebola in that country and another, in French only, on the epidemic of fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which, as we told you yesterday, was confirmed not to be Ebola.
Among other press releases today, there is one from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Director-General Jacques Diouf said that an international strategy for combating foot-and-mouth disease was needed. Speaking in Brussels at the International Conference on Prevention and Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, he said that no region or country could fight the disease in isolation, and that supporting developing countries in their efforts to control and eradicate animal diseases was to everyone’s advantage.
**Public Information Chiefs and Missions Spokespersons
Since yesterday, we are hosting here at United Nations Headquarters about
28 heads of public information and spokespeople from the different field missions, be they peacekeeping, humanitarian, political missions in the field. This is an activity organized jointly by the Department of Public Information (DPI), the Department for Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The representatives arrived yesterday, are here today and will be here tomorrow for discussion sessions.
If anyone is interested in getting in touch with any of them, you may do so through the Peace and Security Unit in DPI. The extension is 3-0707. We have, outside the Spokesman's Office, a list with the names of all the participants from the field who are here.
**Press Conferences
And finally, two announcements:
Today, at 12:45 p.m., Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, and Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director, will discuss sexual exploitation of children and launch the UNICEF publication "Profiting from Abuse". I see UNICEF colleagues already in the back there, so Carol must be on her way.
For tomorrow, at 1:15 p.m., Pierre Okongo Lumbi, the Coordinator of the Commission of the National Expert Group on the Illegal Exploitation of the Natural Resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will discuss the illegal exploitation of natural resources. Again, that will be tomorrow at 1:15 here in this room.
And finally, I was asked by the United Nations Correspondents' Association (UNCA) to remind you of the UNCA's annual holiday party, which happens today, starting at 5:30 at the UNCA lounge. They will have food, they will have drinks and they will have music. You are all invited.
There will be no Jan Fischer today, because Jan is sick. Actually I am told all of his family has some kind of flu. I have a number to give out to you if you are interested in anything concerning the General Assembly.
Any questions to me before we wrap this up?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Would it not be a good idea to introduce the information officers here to us, since some of us go into the field from time to time?
Deputy Spokesman: That’s why I was telling you about them. That they are here, that I am putting out a list with their names, the missions where they come from and a phone number for you to contact them.
Question: Could they come here when you are doing your briefing?
Deputy Spokesman: There are too many of them. I take note of your comment, but we thought it would be more useful if you talked to the ones you were most interested in, and we made a list of names and a contact number available to you. But thank you for your suggestion.
Question: How many troops are deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since some members of the Security Council are there?
Deputy Spokesman: I don't think I have that number for you. I will have one of my colleagues look into that and get back to you. Just to clarify, they are ambassadors from members of the Security Council. [Later it was announced that at the end of November, the numbers of military personnel was 3,379.]
Thank you very much. Have a good lunch and a pleasant afternoon.
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