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.

**Guest

Good afternoon, everyone.  As you just saw here on my right, Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP).  We’ll try to do my portion of the briefing very quickly as well as Jan’s to make the best use of Mrs. Bertini’s time, since she has other appointments after here.

**Afghanistan

And since we have her here, I will not go into details about the WFP’s activities in Afghanistan, although I am tempted to say -- and if she’ll allow me to say -- that in Kabul today, bakeries will open that will help more than 35,000 poor, destitute and widowed women.  They’ll reopen after being closed for the past two months.  She’ll tell you many more details about what the WFP is doing in Afghanistan.

The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mark Malloch Brown, is in Brussels today representing the United Nations at the Conference on Recovery and Reconstruction in Afghanistan, organized by the European Union.  At the conference, Mr. Malloch Brown underscored the importance of providing enough funding for the "recovery phase", the initial year that aims at building a bridge between short-term humanitarian efforts and long-term reconstruction.  He noted that the recovery phase will include quick impact projects, ranging from food and employment assistance to resumption of education and labour-intensive civil work programmes.  We hope to have his statement shortly after this briefing.

Other developments today from the field include the following:  the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) says that poppy cultivation has resumed and is extensive in the Helmand province.  The price of one kilogram of raw opium has gone down to 275 dollars but is still nine times higher than it was in June.  The revised United Nations requirements for humanitarian work in Afghanistan amount to $661.9 million.  As of yesterday, some $358 million was received.  Only one agency, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) is fully covered, while the WFP achieved 81 per cent of requirements and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR), 59 per cent.  The UNDP and UNDCP have received no significant funds so far.  Other sectors such as health services, mine action and agriculture are around 30 per cent coverage.

**Afghanistan -- Political

Still on Afghanistan, on the political side, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Lakhdar Brahimi, arrived in Islamabad early this morning.  He had a day of meetings with members of the United Nations family, and tomorrow, early in the morning, he leaves for Kabul.

**Security Council

Meanwhile, back here in New York, I’m just told that the Council, which as you know met this morning, is scheduled now to vote on the Afghan resolution at 1:00 o’clock this afternoon.  And since I’m with the Council, I’ll tell you that, in consultations this morning, they had a briefing by the High-Level Coordinator for the question of missing Kuwaitis and third-country nationals, who is Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov.  The Ambassador presented to the Council the Secretary-General’s last report, which we flagged for you on Tuesday.  Following this discussion, Council members will be taking up the draft resolution, which they already did, and which was distributed yesterday, on the multinational force for Afghanistan.

**Security Council for the record

Yesterday afternoon, and this is for the record, the Council unanimously adopted a resolution extending the sanctions against uncertified diamonds in Sierra Leone by a period of 11 months, beginning 5 January.  The Council adopted two presidential statements.  One of them extends the mandate of the Panel of Experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources from the Democratic Republic of the Congo for six months, and requests an interim report in three months. 

The second presidential statement is related to West Africa.  And in the statement, the Council emphasized, among other things, the need to maintain regional peace and stability and, in that connection, welcomed the progress made in the Mano River Union.  Through that statement, Council Members also underlined the importance of taking steps to develop cooperation and coordination among those intergovernmental bodies and entities of the United Nations system, which can influence the situation in West Africa. 

**ECOWAS Summit

That statement was sent to the Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which opened today in Dakar.  That was the twenty-fifth summit meeting of ECOWAS.  The Secretary-General himself sent a message pledging that the United Nations would continue to work actively with ECOWAS in numerous areas, notably in trying to restore security and confidence in the Mano River basin countries.  The Secretary-General also referred to his recent decision to open a Regional Office for West Africa, as a further demonstration of his commitment to work closely with ECOWAS and other regional organizations in that region.  The full text of the Secretary-General’s message was delivered by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall, and it’s available in the Spokesman’s Office upstairs.

**Middle East

Moving now to the Middle East, in press conferences held today in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, released two sets of studies.  Both sets document the effects of Israeli closures on the Palestinian economy, which show that Palestinian economic conditions are reaching critical levels.  “Coping mechanisms are at a breaking point”, Mr. Larsen said.  “We have been witnessing peace-building in reverse.”

On the broader situation in the region, he said that for the first time there is a glimmer of hope, and he called on the Palestinian Authority to continue to broaden and deepen its efforts to control violence which will take time and a 100 per cent effort.  He said Israel should “show the utmost restraint, and act to create a conducive environment for progress”.  Mr. Larsen also called on the international community to fully support the parties.  The latest economic update shows that total losses to the Palestinian economy are estimated at between $2.4 and $3.2 billion, and poverty rates are estimated to reach 46 per cent by year-end, more than double the rate prior to the crisis.  We have a press release with more details upstairs.

**East Timor

And today in East Timor, the Constituent Assembly passed 12 articles of East Timor’s draft Constitution.  Those include articles guaranteeing the right to free assembly, freedom of movement and freedom of religion, as well as the right to strike, the right for all people over the age of 17 to vote and the right to work regardless of gender.  Recently, the Constituent Assembly also adopted an article declaring Portuguese and Tetum as East Timor’s official languages.  More details, as usual, in the briefing note from Dili.

**Macroeconomics and Health

And now a note on the Macroeconomic and Health report.  The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health of the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the report, “Macroeconomics and Health:  Investing in Health for economic development”.  It was launched today in London.  On receiving the report, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the WHO, described it as a turning point that will influence how development assistance is prioritized and coordinated.  The report shows that just a few health conditions are responsible for a high proportion of avoidable deaths in poor countries, and that improved health is essential for economic development.  It goes on to say that well-targeted measures could save the lives of 8 million people each year and generate economic benefits of more than $360 billion by the year 2015.

The Secretary-General, in his message to the launch, said that because the consequences of illness can lead to suffering, despair and poverty, health features prominently in the Millennium Declaration.  He went on to say that the report offers “wise guidance on how to invest in health”.  We have the full text of the Secretary-General’s message, as well as the two press releases on the report, upstairs, and the full report is on the WHO Web site.

**Press Releases

I’m approaching the end of this briefing, to bring to your attention that there is available upstairs an update on the outbreak of Ebola in Gabon. The WHO reports that there have been 27 cases so far, resulting in 15 deaths.  The outbreak has spread to the Republic of the Congo, in villages near the border with Gabon.  Of the 27 cases, 16 were detected in Gabon and 11 in the Republic of the Congo.  The WHO team is assisting with the Governments of Gabon and the Congo on outbreak control.  More news in the update from the WHO.

We also have available a press release from the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on a $4.9 million contribution they received today from the Government of Japan for the agency’s food assistance programme.

And finally in this chapter on press releases, there’s one from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, which ended in Yokohama, Japan, today.

In addition, I have a note here from the Department of Public Information (DPI), asking us to tell you that the publication, Year In Review:  United Nations Peace Operations in 2001, is available at the documents counter.  This publication is subtitled “Voices from the Field”.  Most of the contents have been prepared by United Nations peacekeeping and peace-building personnel in the field to provide a slice-of-life view of the work of peacekeeping missions during 2001.  The publication also contains a brief overview of developments in peace operations during 2001.

**Press Conference

And finally, to bring it to your attention, and I’m sure Jan will be talking more about that, at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow there’s a press briefing scheduled with the President of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly, Han Seung-soo of the Republic of Korea.  He will conduct his year-end press briefing.

Are there any questions before we move on?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  I just came from a press conference of the Afghan women.  I believe they appeared yesterday before the Security Council.

Deputy Spokesman:  We learned later in the afternoon that they were not in the Council per se but with Members of the Council in what they call an Area Formula meeting.  It did take place yesterday, yes.

Question:  The main reason for this press conference was asking the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping force there immediately for disarmament of the combatants.  And also, that the United Nations would lend its support to an active role by Afghan women in the overall process of putting together the government.  Has the United Nations taken a position on that?  And lastly, can you tell me who the highest ranking -- female wouldn’t be right, but lady, maybe; the highest rank, who’s going over there to help Mr. Brahimi and people like that.

Deputy Spokesman: Let me try to answer this quickly to move on.  Any decision on peacekeeping forces belongs to the Security Council.  So the Council right now, I don’t think you heard because you were a bit late, is set to go in and vote on the multinational force at 1:00 o’clock.  That has a specific mandate, which we’ll see when they adopt the resolution.  So a United Nations peacekeeping force is not right now being contemplated.  It’s a multinational force that is being considered.

[On the issue of participation of women, the Secretary-General and his Special Representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, have repeatedly stated the importance of women and their active participation in the reconstruction of the nation.]

I cannot tell you who the highest-ranking female is because there are no real appointments yet for Mr. Brahimi, for the future mission.  Which, as you know, is not even established.  We will also need a Council resolution establishing a United Nations mission.  Therefore, there are no names appointed yet, other than, of course, the Special Representative.

Question:  Mr. Larsen’s report was exclusively on the economy, or did he mention other items as well?

Deputy Spokesman:  It is only on the economy.

Briefing by the General Assembly President Spokesman

The General Assembly met in plenary this morning to take up two items on Afghanistan, namely “emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan” and “the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security”.  There were

14 speakers on the list as of this morning and I think they’re winding up at the moment, if they haven’t finished already.

At three today, there will be a resumption of the tenth emergency special session on the issue, “illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory”.  The resumption was requested by Egypt as Chairman of the Arab Group and on behalf of the League of Arab States, and by South Africa as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement.  The Assembly is expected to take action on two draft resolutions, which I haven’t seen yet, but they should come out on the racks.  They are mentioned in the Journal and we do have numbers, which usually means they are in circulation so keep an eye out for them.

We expect to hear about 25 speakers this afternoon.  A little bit of background to the session.  The tenth emergency session dates back to 1997 when Israel began construction of a new settlement south of East Jerusalem.  The Security Council met twice on this issue but failed to adopt two resolutions.  And so, using the “Uniting for Peace” formula, a special emergency session of

the General Assembly was convened in April and again in July and November of 1997.  It also resumed in 1998, 1999 and 2000.  Last year, a resolution condemning acts of violence was adopted with 92 in favour to six against and

46 abstentions.

Looking forward to tomorrow, the Assembly will take up the reports of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and will also deal with the items on Multilingualism and the Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  As you will have noticed from the daily Journal, a mixed bag of items will come up in the afternoon.  Most of these items have already been debated but for various reasons, there was no action taken on the draft resolutions.  So tomorrow afternoon will be kind of a clean-up operation.  The Assembly may, I repeat, may, also start on the reports of the Fifth Committee tomorrow.

That’s all I have.  Please remember the President’s press briefing, here in room 226, at 11.15 a.m. tomorrow.

Questions and Answers

Question: How are they doing in the Fifth Committee?  Are they making progress?

Spokesman: They are making progress.  I heard a rumour which I hope is true, that they might be able to finish today, but then we have a time lag for the preparation of documentation and before it can go to the General Assembly.

Question: So then, when would the General Assembly vote on the approved budget?

Spokesman: Probably very late Friday.  Could be Saturday.  It depends very much on how fast they can go through all the items tomorrow and how fast documentation can be made available from the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

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