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

Following is a near-verbatim record of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Middle East

Good afternoon.

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of the Middle East.

"The Secretary-General very much regrets that, after a period during which the security situation had begun to stabilize, there was a new attack on 9 January by Hamas inside Israel.  The Secretary-General calls on the parties not to be deterred by this act of violence, which he deplores, from continuing efforts to resume security cooperation and implement the Tenet Plan and Mitchell recommendations.

"At the same time, the Secretary-General deplores the most recent action by the Israeli Defence Force in the Gaza Strip, where dozens of Palestinian houses, as well as the air strip, have been destroyed.  Such collective punishment is in violation of the Geneva Conventions."

**Larsen Continues Middle East Tour

Terje Roed-Larsen, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, today met with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud and other senior Lebanese officials, including Nabih Berri, Speaker of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.

Yesterday, he met in Damascus with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al Sharaa.

In all his meetings, Mr. Larsen discussed in detail the recent developments in the region and focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  He also discussed with his counterparts the full range of issues related to all tracks of the Middle East peace process.

Mr. Larsen also shared his concern for the continuing economic and social difficulties in parts of the region.

He told his interlocutors that the United Nations was active in all fields. In addition to the Secretary-General's political efforts, United Nations  peacekeeping missions helped maintain stability in a tense region, while United Nations agencies assisted peoples and governments in the economic and humanitarian realm.

He drew particular attention to the critical efforts of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in support of Palestinian refugees, and to those of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the development fields.

I have a full press release from Larsen in my Office. 

**Colombia

The Secretary-General’s Acting Special Adviser on Colombia, James Le Moyne, is in the air at this time.  He left Bogotá about an hour ago for the demilitarized zone, after he got word from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that they were willing to see him.  Le Moyne is undertaking a facilitation mission at the request of the Government of Colombia and the FARC in a final effort to prevent the peace process from breaking down completely.

In a press conference yesterday in Bogotá, Le Moyne said that after three years of trying to achieve peace, “. . . it cannot be that we now lose this opportunity and the hope for peace . . . that Colombia should become a land of war, of blood and tears, especially when there are alternatives.”

**Afghanistan

Among the meetings that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, held in Kabul today was one with United States Senator Joseph Biden.  They spoke about the presence of the International Security Assistance Force as well as about the needs of Afghanistan in terms of foreign aid.  Reference was made to how quick nations were to pledge funds, but how slow they were deliver cash.

He also met with Koichiro Matsuura, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), who is in Afghanistan to assess ways to assist in education, culture, science and communication.

Please see the briefing notes from Kabul for details.

On the humanitarian side, the World Food Programme (WFP) said it had dispatched two staff members to the remote Zarah district in the north to determine the quickest way to bring food to these people.  As you'll recall, there has recently been some media coverage on the situation in the village of Bonawash, Zarah District, reporting on villagers suffering from acute food shortages.  We have more on that in the briefing notes from Islamabad.

**Security Council

The Security Council is meeting in closed consultations this morning.  They were briefed on the latest developments in Afghanistan by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast.

Mr. Prendergast introduced the Secretary-General’s report on the humanitarian implications of Security Council Sanctions on Afghanistan, which was issued at the end of last month.

Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia reported to the Council on the work of the Afghan sanctions committee, which he heads.

Lastly, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom briefed Council members on the work of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Yesterday afternoon, following the briefing on the Central African Republic, the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius, told journalists that the Council was deeply concerned at the increasing problems affecting that country.  Ambassador Koonjul added that the Council called on the Secretary-General to coordinate the various initiatives taken at the regional level to restore calm and stability in the Central African Republic.

**Group of 77 Speech

This morning in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, the chairmanship of the Group of 77 -– which is the 133-nation coalition representing the developing world –- is being handed over formally from Iran to Venezuela, with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi turning the reins of the group over to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias.

The Secretary-General is speaking at the ceremony now, to praise Iran’s great skill and determination in dealing with last year’s tumultuous events, and to wish Venezuela well as it assumes its responsibilities.

In his speech, he noted the Conference on Financing for Development that will be held in March in Monterrey, Mexico, and encouraged the Group of 77 “to reach out, settle on achievable goals, and build consensus around them.  This moment must not be squandered.”

We have copies of his speech upstairs.

Prior to that handover, the Secretary-General met with President Chavez, and they discussed the Group of 77’s transition.  The President told the Secretary-General that he intends to revitalize the G-77 in support of the work of the United Nations, particularly in the implementation of the goals of the Millennium Summit.  They also had a detailed discussion of the situation in Colombia.

**Cyprus

The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders, His Excellency Mr. Glafcos Clerides and His Excellency Mr. Rauf Denktash, met this morning at the residence of the United Nations Chief of Mission, Zbigniew Wlosowicz, in the United Nations Protected Area in Nicosia, to discuss the issue of the missing persons.

The two leaders continued their discussions at the residence this afternoon.

**Cambodia

Referring to a Cambodian top official, the Reuters News Agency today reports that Cambodia will send a second official request to the United Nations asking the world body to approve the legislation setting up a Khmer Rouge tribunal.  The request would invite the Legal Counsel of the United Nations, Mr. Hans Corell, to Phnom Penh to sign an agreement allowing the setting up of the long-awaited tribunal.  There is also a report that the United Nations has failed to respond to an earlier request.

Mr. Corell has asked me to convey that, if this statement correctly reflects what the official has said, the description is not accurate.

Mr. Corell received the law as adopted in an English translation on

31 August of last year.  On 10 October he responded and raised a number of points. On 26 November, Mr. Corell received a letter dated 23 November from his Cambodian counterpart commenting on some of the points raised.  However, the letter indicated that a detailed response would follow.

On 18 December, Mr. Corell reminded his counterpart that he still had not received any comments to the remaining points.  The matter is therefore with the Government of Cambodia, and it is important to have a clear view from the Government as to all the points raised before a visit to Phnom Penh would be fruitful.

**Western Sahara

The Secretary-General’s interim report on Western Sahara went to the Security Council today, and notes the recent release of a number of Moroccan prisoners of war and Saharan detainees as a positive development.

However, he adds that the continued detention of more than 1,350 prisoners by the Polisario Front is a serious humanitarian issue, and he is also concerned by the situation of Saharan refugees in the Tindouf camps.

He also notes the passage without incident of the Paris-Dakar rally through Western Sahara on January 3 and 4, and adds, “There has been no indication on the ground that either side intends to resume hostilities in the near future.”

**East Timor

You may have seen recent media reports criticizing the leadership of the United Nations mission in East Timor following the resignation of its chief of staff, Mr. Nagalingam Parameswaran.  I want to assure you that the Secretary-General has full confidence in the leadership of the mission.

We have available in my office upstairs a letter to the New Straits Times of Malaysia, written by Shashi Tharoor, interim head of the Department of Public Information, on this issue.

Also available is a press release issued today by Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the East Timor Transitional Government, in which he acknowledges Mr. Parameswaram's work in East Timor.

In his statement, Dr. Ramos Horta also says that "many people have devoted many months, many long hours, to East Timor.  Mr. Parameswaran is one, but there are many others of many nationalities, Europeans, whites and non-whites, so I do not think it is fair to call this a white dominated mission."

**Budget

Today, three more Member States paid their regular budget contributions for 2002 in full.  Latvia made a payment of more than $111,000, Mali more than

$22,000 and Singapore more than $4 million.  We now have 19 Member States paid up in full.

**Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

The twenty-sixth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) will begin at United Nations Headquarters here on Monday and will end on 1 February.

The Committee will focus on the reports of eight States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  These are Estonia, Fiji, Iceland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.

We have a press release on CEDAW on that.

We have to scuttle out of this room pretty quickly because at 12:30 the President of Venezuela, His Excellency Mr. Hugo Chavez will brief on the transfer of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 from Iran to Venezuela.

We have the Week Ahead for you that you can pick up in my Office, and I think that's all I have.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  There was an article in the New York Times today quoting anonymous Pentagon officials as saying they believed Iran was sending arms into Afghanistan as part of humanitarian shipments, either by airplane or by land.  Do people at the United Nations involved in the humanitarian programme actually monitor shipments for such things, and have they had any evidence of that?

Spokesman:  We'd have to check with Kabul.  It would surprise me if we had any direct knowledge.  It's a big border and we have very few people in the country.

I believe the patrolling of the border is the responsibility of the Afghan transitional authority, so it would be a haphazard collection of information by relief workers should they happen to see something.  But it's not our job to patrol or monitor.

Question:  The Government of Colombia has already sent troops to the demilitarized zone.  Does the Secretary-General intend to echo the grave concern of Mr. Le Moyne about this situation?

Spokesman:  Yes, but we've got another 48 hours before those troops take any action, so Mr. Le Moyne's mission is in the context of that 48-hour delay in military action by the Government.  Certainly the Secretary-General hopes that

Mr. Le Moyne's facilitation can succeed.

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