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 Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary General, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Deputy Spokesman’s Briefing

Good afternoon.  Thank you very much for coming.  I’ll start with Afghanistan.     

**Afghanistan -- Political

For the record, yesterday afternoon shortly after the briefing, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the establishment for six months of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to assist the Afghan Interim Authority in the maintenance of security in Kabul and its surrounding areas.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, is in Kabul today to take part in the ceremony tomorrow that will mark the official hand-over of power from Burhannudin Rabbani to the Interim Administration headed by Hamid Karzai.  For those of you who are interested, we have copies of a provisional schedule of the ceremony, which will take place tomorrow in Kabul’s Hall of the Interior Ministry.

**Afghanistan -- Humanitarian

Still on Afghanistan, today’s briefing notes from the field include a briefing on the demining operations of the United Nations and on the status of ammunition depots within the military compounds, in and around Kabul, which have been bombed.  The World Food Programme (WFP) dispatched a convoy to meet the

14 New York City firefighters and police officers who, upon arrival in Kabul, went to an orphanage in southern Kabul, where they distributed food and blankets to more than 700 children.

Refugees keep returning to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan as the situation in Afghanistan gradually improves and more staff from aid organizations are deployed on the ground.  After a lull during the end of the Ramadan weekend, returns have picked up sharply, with thousands of people going back from Pakistan and Iran daily.  On Thursday, an estimated 2,500 people returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan alone, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, Kamal Hossain, emphasized the importance of complying with international humanitarian law concerning the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan.  In a press release, Mr. Hossain refers to reports of the death and summary execution of prisoners after their capture as a source of serious concern.  Mr. Hossain is scheduled to visit Afghanistan beginning on 4 January, and to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its next session.

**Liberia

I now have a statement attributable to the Spokesman and that is on Liberia:  “The Secretary-General has been following the recent upsurge in fighting between Liberian Government forces and armed elements in the northwestern part of the country.  The Secretary-General is troubled that innocent Liberian civilians, mostly women and children, have once again been forced to flee their homes in search of safety and relief, while others are trapped in areas where they cannot be easily reached by humanitarian agencies, and therefore cannot be assisted or protected.  He calls on the concerned parties to allow unhindered access by humanitarian agencies to those in need.

“The Secretary-General remains concerned about the negative impact the fighting is having on prospects for peace and stability in Liberia and its Mano River Union neighbors, Guinea and Sierra Leone.  The Secretary-General calls on those involved in the fighting to eschew violence as a means of achieving their objectives.”

**Sierra Leone

On that situation, the UNHCR reports today that heavy shelling coming from Liberia also continues to be heard in the Kailahun area of Sierra Leone.  Intensified fighting in Liberia’s Lofa county continues to push refugees into Sierra Leone.

And today’s briefing notes from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) contain a detailed update by Acting Force Commander Major-General Martin Agwai on the latest disturbances between rival factions in the diamond-rich eastern town of Koidu.  Clashes between former combatants of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the pro-Government militia, Civil Defence Force (CDF), which erupted on Wednesday and continued into yesterday, followed a disagreement over a decision to halt mining in Koidu.   The confirmed casualties are five dead and 40 injured.  The situation this morning was said to be calm. Major-General Agwai, who had just returned from Koidu, said he would be going back to the town within the next 24 hours or so.

**Senegalese Remembrance 

I now have a statement which we put out shortly before the briefing.  It’s attributable to the Spokesman and it is on the death of Léopold Sedar-Senghor: “The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Léopold Sedar-Senghor, the first President of Senegal and the father of Senegalese democracy.  President Sedar-Senghor led Senegal with wisdom and distinction for two decades, from its birth as an independent nation, a crucial period not only for his country, but for Africa as a whole.  He stood out as a leader committed to peace, justice, development and education, and laid the foundation for what was to become Senegal’s tradition of democratic and peaceful transfer of power.

“As a statesman and a co-founder of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Léopold Sedar-Senghor was a tireless pioneer of cooperation on the African continent.  As an intellectual and a poet, he was a powerful champion of African dignity and an advocate of dialogue among civilizations.  The Secretary-General extends his deepest condolences to Léopold Sedar-Senghor’s family and loved ones, as well as to the Government and people of Senegal.  He joins several generations of Africans and poetry-lovers around the world in giving thanks for his life.”

**Security Council

Here in New York, the Security Council began a public meeting on the situation in Angola.  The Secretary-General is present and his Special Adviser for Africa, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, briefed the Council on his recently completed trip to that country, which was aimed at finding ways in which the United Nations could help accelerate the peace process.  The text of the remarks by Professor Gambari are available in the Spokesman’s Office.

And this afternoon at 3:00 o’clock, Council members will once again gather in a public meeting for the traditional wrap-up session for the month of December.  At this time, there are no Council meetings scheduled for next week.  And when the Council meets the next time for a scheduled meeting, that’s in January and that will be under the presidency of Mauritius, who’ll take the presidency for the month of January.

**East Timor

A press release from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) says that the East Timor transitional government and Phillips Petroleum have reached an understanding on allowing gas development in the Timor Sea to proceed.  Chief Minister of the Transitional Government, Mari Alkatiri, said, “Petroleum revenue from the Timor Sea, and from Bayu-Undun in particular, will go a long way towards alleviating poverty in East Timor and will open up other investment opportunities in the joint East Timor-Australia area of the Timor Sea.”  It is estimated that revenues from gas development in the area will be $2.5-3 billion over the life of that field.  We have available more details on that press release, as well as the daily Briefing Notes from the Dili office of the mission.

**Rwanda Tribunal

The organizer of a Hutu youth movement who has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for genocide and other crimes committed in that country was arrested today in Brussels, Belgium.  The suspect, Joseph Nzabirinda, is alleged to have carried out crimes in the Rwanda commune of Ngoma, where several thousand Tutsi were killed during the 1994 genocide.  So far this year, the Rwanda Tribunal has arrested 12 suspects.  More details are available in the press release we have upstairs.

**Central African Republic Refugees

The UNHCR says it will begin airlifting shelter supplies next week from Kinshasa for the construction of shelters for refugees from the Central African Republic, at a new site that has been prepared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The UNHCR’s briefing note has more details on that.

**Global Economic Growth Report

Late yesterday, so we could not include it in our briefing, the Secretary-General said that global economic growth during the 1990s did not promote sustainable development, and that in most parts of the developing world, there was limited progress at best in reducing poverty.  That is in a report that came out late yesterday, which says that economic statistics were impressive during the past decade, with exports amounting to more than 6 trillion dollars in the year 2000.  However, financial resources for sustainable development remained insufficient, patterns of consumption and production continued to be unsustainable and the approach to development remained fragmented and piecemeal.

The report is to serve as a factual document for next year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development, which is to begin in Johannesburg, South Africa, next August.  We have a press release out on the racks with more information on it.

**Signings

Today, Australia signed two of the Protocols supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.  The Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants now has 97 signatories and the Protocol on firearms has 20 signatures.

**Holiday Week Ahead

As always on Friday, we have available upstairs the week ahead, which over the holidays has very few activities listed, but you can find it up there.  And speaking of holidays, this is our last briefing of the year.  We will resume briefings on 2 January.  However, throughout the period, we will not only be in the Office during the days the Office is open, but we will be posting our highlights of the briefing.  In other words, the notes we have for the briefing will be posted every day in the early part of the afternoon.  Shortly after noon, we hope.  And I should also point out that United Nations Headquarters will be closed on Tuesday, although on Monday we, of course, will be here.

What else on that?  Of course the days that are holidays, we’ll have our regular duty officer, when one of us will be on call.  And of course, during the days when we are in the Office, we’ll be there always gladly answering your questions.

**Press Conference

There’s one today, following this briefing, at 12:45, by Ambassador Noureddine Mejdub of Tunisia, Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) concerning Somalia.  He will brief on sanctions against Somalia.

This is all I have.  Any questions before we move on to Jan?

Questions and Answers

Question:  Any statement concerning the situation in Argentina?

Deputy Spokesman: Of course it’s a situation we are following with concern.  The situation is evolving and we’re following it.  We deplore the violence we’ve all seen.  And we hope that a solution is found within the constitutional framework of Argentina.

Question:  On Afghanistan, you mentioned that a number of people are returning from Pakistan.  Are they Afghans or Pakistanis?

Deputy Spokesman:  They’re Afghan refugees, going back.

Question:  Are they controlled or is anyone looking after them?

Deputy Spokesman:  There’s a note from the briefing from Kabul, which gives you details, and we have it upstairs.  Maybe you can get some answers to your questions from that briefing note.

Question:  Can you confirm that Francesc Vendrell has resigned his position as Deputy Special Representative in Afghanistan?

Deputy Spokesman:  His contract is over at the end of January, and he has asked not to continue beyond the end of January.  He feels that now that the Bonn agreement has been reached, we’re entering a new phase and it’s the right time for him to relinquish his position.

And if there are no more questions, Jan.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the General Assembly President      

Good afternoon.  I shouldn’t really be here today because you had an opportunity to ask questions about the Assembly from the President himself earlier today, but I suppose I just couldn’t stay away so here goes.  This morning the Assembly took up the reports of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), and adopted some 40 resolutions, all but one or two without a vote.  Before I went down to the President’s briefing, I managed to catch the voting on one of them.  It’s on item seven, the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan, over their natural resources.  That was adopted by a vote of 148 in favour, four against (Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, United States) and four abstentions (Cameroon, Fiji, Nicaragua and Papua New Guinea).

The Assembly then went on to the item on Multilingualism, for which we had 10 speakers and quite a few explanations of vote.  I don’t know if they have gotten to the item on the Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina yet, but there are eight speakers on the list for that item.  As I mentioned yesterday, we have a very mixed bag of items for the afternoon.  Most of these items have already been debated, so the Assembly will mainly adopt draft resolutions.  There are also a number of items that will be deferred to the fifty-seventh session.

Yesterday, the Assembly discussed two items on Afghanistan, but postponed taking action on the draft resolution pending a review of the programme budget implications.  In the afternoon, there was a resumption of the tenth emergency

special session on the issue of “illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory”.  Around 6:00 o’clock last night, the Assembly voted on two draft resolutions.  The one calling for a cessation of violence and a resumption of negotiations was adopted by 124 in favour, six against (Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Tuvalu, United States) and 25 abstentions.  The resolution on the Geneva Convention was adopted by 133 in favor to four against (Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, United States) and 16 abstentions.

That’s what I have.  Any questions?

Deputy Spokesman: If not, since this is the last briefing of the year, I wish to thank you for your cooperation this year.  Fred and all of us in the Spokesman’s Office, including Jan, look forward to working with you then.  As I said, we’ll be in the Office in the coming week, doing our work and helping you.  Thank you very much.  Have a good holiday.

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