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 record of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Afghanistan

Good Afternoon.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, today participated in the meeting in Kabul between the Chairman of the Interim Administration, Hamid Karzai, and visiting United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Mr. Brahimi told the visiting U.S. official that his message that the United States is committed to Afghanistan for the long run was re-assuring.  He went on to explain the urgent need for cash for the Interim Administration.

Here in New York last night, the Security Council adopted a resolution updating a previous set of measures that required all countries to freeze the financial assets of individuals, groups or organizations on a list compiled by its sanctions committee for Afghanistan.

The resolution also obliges nations to continue a travel ban and arms embargo on the remaining elements of the Taliban, the Al Qaeda network and their supporters.  The updated and revised list, which removes the Central Bank of Afghanistan and Ariana Airlines in accordance with earlier Council actions, is available on the Web site.

In Vienna today, the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention welcomed the ban on opium cultivation and drug trafficking announced by Mr. Karzai in Kabul yesterday as an important step in global drug control efforts. Afghanistan has been the main source of illicit opium:  70 per cent of global illicit opium production in 2000 and up to 90 per cent of heroin in Europe originated from Afghanistan.

The Drug Control Programme says it is working closely with the Afghan authorities to ensure that drug control remains high on the list of reconstruction priorities.  You can see their press release for more information on that.

On the humanitarian front, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that two of its trucks carrying 20 tons of wheat each were stopped at gunpoint and the food stolen by armed gunmen in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday.  The Afghan truck drivers were beaten.  They are shaken but in good condition, and they are now in Mazar-i-Sharif.  The WFP says insecurity varies from one region to another and changes on a weekly basis, but it is one of the main concerns and impediments to its work in Afghanistan.

**East Timor

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, announced today at a press conference in Dili that East Timor’s first presidential elections will be held on 14 April.

Last night, he signed a new electoral regulation paving the way for the elections. The regulation states that the President should be elected by universal suffrage and secret ballot on the basis on a single national constituency.

Mr. Vieira de Mello also announced that the electoral campaign will begin on 15 March and end on 12 April.  All 16 parties registered for last year’s elections for the Constituent Assembly would be eligible to nominate a candidate for the presidential election, and new parties can still register and nominate candidates. He also said that individual East Timorese could apply for registration as independent candidates, if they met the eligibility criteria.

The final results will be announced on 17 April and will be certified by the Electoral Commissioners on 21 April.

At the press conference, Mr. Vieira de Mello also announced the appointment of seven members of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation.  After the swearing-in ceremony on Monday in Dili, the commissioners will begin a one-week orientation and training programme.

We have more information in the notes from Dili, as well as the transcript of the press conference.

**Security Council

There are no meetings of the Security Council scheduled for today.

Late yesterday, in addition to the Afghan resolution I just mentioned, the Council also unanimously adopted resolution 1389 which authorizes the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone to assist the Government, with a wide-range of measures, with holding of upcoming elections in May.

Council members also adopted a presidential statement on Eritrea and Ethiopia, in which the Council confirms its intention to send a mission to the two countries in February 2002.

The President of the Security Council, Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius, said that the Ambassador of Norway, Ole Peter Kolby, was currently finalizing the dates for the mission, which will take place in the second half of February.  The border delimitation determination by the Boundary Commission is scheduled for late February, and by 15 March the mandate of United Nations mission will be up for renewal.

Earlier, the Council had been briefed during closed consultations on the latest developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guéhenno.

Afterwards, in a statement to the press by the President of the Council, the President said the Council members reminded all parties in the conflict to facilitate the United Nations mission’s deployment in the eastern part of the country.

**Lebanon

In his latest report to the Security Council on the United Nations mission in Lebanon, the Secretary-General recommends that the reconfiguration of the force continue.  Through non-replacement of departing units and a decrease in the size of others, the strength of the mission should stabilize at 2,000 by the end of this year from a current strength of about 3,500.

In the report, the Secretary-General also notes that although the mission’s area of operation has been generally calm, the serious breaches of the ceasefire in the Shab’a Farms area remain a significant cause of concern.

He also notes the continuation of Israeli air violations, almost on a daily basis.  “These incursions”, he writes, “are not justified and cause great concern to the civilian population.”

The Secretary-General also says the Government of Lebanon could take more steps to extend its authority in the south, as mandated by the Council and, he adds, it “should make a more concerted effort to take full responsibility for the provision of basic services to the population and for the deployment of the army”.

Lastly, he recommends that the United Nations force’s mandate be extended a further six months, until 31 July.

**Kosovo

The latest report by the Secretary-General to the Security Council on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo has been issued.

The report says the three months covered by the report were dominated by the election of a legislature, and the subsequent efforts to forge a government majority.

The Secretary-General notes that the time it is taking to elect a president and form a government is an indication of the difficulties that will have to be overcome.

Saying security remains a paramount concern, he calls upon all Assembly members to lead, by example, in creating conditions conducive to improving inter-communal relations and promoting reconciliation.

He also said that he would be writing to the Security Council about the successor to Hans Haekkerup.  He did not say when.

The Security Council has scheduled a public meeting on Kosovo for Monday,

21 January.

**Volcanic Eruption in Democratic Republic of Congo

We’ve received reports from the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that the Nyaigongo volcano in Goma, in the eastern part of the country, erupted earlier today.

Helicopter reconnaissance flights report seeing two flows of Lava, one heading directly for Goma, and already within one kilometre from the airport.

The 350 United Nations international staff have been evacuated by road and by plane from Goma.

There are reports of a significant number of people fleeing the area.

A skeleton staff from the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Office, along with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which had remained behind to plan assistance to the displaced, are now themselves preparing to evacuate as the situation deteriorates.

**Signings

This morning, Senegal became the twenty-fourth country to sign the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

**Press Releases

One press release to flag for you today, from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), announcing the release of a special report on a joint mission with the World Food Programme to the Sudan.  The mission found that cereal production in 2001 was up 38 per cent on the previous year and 9 per cent over the average of the preceding five years.  Despite overall increase in production, there were still severe food deficits in southern Sudan due mainly to population displacement.

You can see the press release for more details.

**Budget

We got another cheque today.  Angola became the twenty-seventh Member State to pay its 2002 regular budget dues with a payment of more than $22,000.

**Correction to Countries in Colombia Peace Process

We have egg all over our faces once again on this list of the 10 countries that are supporting efforts in Colombia to renew talks between the FARC and the Government.  We had included Belgium on the list, and they should not be on the list and we omitted Spain, which should be on the list.

I think that the 10 I'm now going to read you are the accurate 10:  Canada, Cuba, France, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela.

We expect that the representatives of those 10 countries will all be in the zone, where the discussions are now taking place between the Government and the FARC.  They'll be there tomorrow.  And, of course, James LeMoyne, the United Nations Envoy, is there now.

That's all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you have any information about the identities of those who robbed the World Food Programme (WFP) of food?

Spokesman:  No, we don't.  At least, we weren't given any.  If you wanted to check with the WFP in case they have any more information, but I don't.

Question:  Do the food convoys have any armed escorts?

Spokesman:  I think it's the preference of the aid community not to work with armed escorts except in really extreme circumstances.  They were delivering aid in Bosnia for a long time in war conditions without armed escorts, until the situation got so bad they finally had to accept them.  But it's their preference to work without armed escort, and they did not have any, as far as I know, in this case.

Question:  Is that going to change?  You say in extreme circumstances. Surely, this is pretty extreme -- when they steal all the food and beat up the drivers.

Spokesman:  Yes, it is a serious situation, but the drivers were merely beaten.  If there had been weapons present, who knows whether there might not have been someone shot.  I think that has to be taken into consideration, as well. Anyway, it's the call of the World Food Programme, and I don't want to get into the middle of that.

Of course, the only ones who could provide such escorts would be the new Afghan Administration, and they are still organizing their security elements to extend throughout the whole country.  I'm not even sure they'd be in a position to help at this time.

Question:  There's a long letter from the North Korean Ambassador today saying the United Nations should investigate massacres of civilians, which he says were perpetrated by United States troops in Korea in the 1950s. Also, that the United Nations should, as he puts it, retrieve its flag from the United States troops in South Korea.  Is there any feasibility to investigating those massacres or any reaction to the letter?

Spokesman:  That letter was addressed to the President of the Security Council, and it was Member States that put the United Nations flag and the United Nations name on the Unified Korean Command.  It's not been a matter for the Secretary-General and, in this case, I don't think the Secretary-General would pre-empt the response, if there will be one, by Council members to this letter.

Question:  On Colombia -- what are the objectives of the talks?  What do both sides want -- the Government plus rebels?  What do they want?

Spokesman:  Simply, they want an end to the long-standing civil war.  The Government had, as a step towards reconciliation, given a portion of central Colombia to the FARC as a neutral zone, one they could operate in while negotiations went forward for a final solution.

The President, as I understand it, periodically reviews the status of this zone, and whether or not to continue this arrangement.  His next review will be Sunday.  He has said, now that talks with the FARC have resumed, substantial progress will have to take place by Sunday, or he will not extend control of the zone to the FARC.  Which would result in possible military clashes once again.

So the idea is to keep the talks going, try to make enough progress by Sunday for the President to extend the life of the zone, and keep the talks moving in the right direction.

Question:  Has the Secretary-General voiced an opinion on the treatment of those guys that are being held at Guantanamo that Ms. Robinson spoke about yesterday?

Spokesman:  I was asked yesterday if he agreed with the statement that she released from Geneva yesterday.  I said that he did, as it was simply a basic reaffirmation of principles of international law.  So he agrees with that statement.

Question:  The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a resolution two days ago on the situation in Haiti, which was supposed to be transmitted to the United Nations.  Do you know about it?  Do you have any comment on it?

Spokesman:  I don't know about it and I don't know if it has been transmitted.  I'll have to look into it for you.

[The Spokesman's Office later announced that the OAS resolution had been received by the United Nations during the briefing.]

Thank you very much.

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