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 Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.  Our guest at the briefing today will be Carolyn McAskie, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, who has just returned from a visit to Somalia that she would like to discuss with you.

**Afghanistan

From Afghanistan, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees today draws attention to what it describes as a dramatic increase in the number of Afghans crossing the border into Pakistan.

The UNHCR says these new refugees are fleeing a mixture of harassment by rival militias, as well as drought and famine. 

The UNHCR estimates there are now nearly 20,000 Afghans at the Chaman border with Pakistan, waiting to be registered.  This is a dramatic increase from the number that were there just a few days ago.  Ten days ago, UNHCR said it saw only about 5,000 persons waiting at the frontier.

In southern Balochistan Province in Pakistan, UNHCR currently cares for another 144,000 people in nine camps and one transit area.  This does not include the nearly 20,000 Afghans waiting to be registered and moved to one of UNHCR’s new camps.

So far this year, more than 50,000 Afghans have gone to Pakistan seeking help.  The Afghans are also looking more and more destitute.  What's more worrisome, UNHCR reports, is that the new arrivals say that many more Afghans are behind them.

The UNHCR staff travelling between Kandahar and Spin Boldak report seeing people walking along the road from Kandahar to the Chaman border, or riding on tractors.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, is in Paris today, where he met this morning with the chief of staff of the French Army.  He is in Paris for a three-day visit at the invitation of the French Government.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

On Friday afternoon, we spoiled your long weekend by issuing the Secretary-General's report on the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Apologies for that.

In it, the Secretary-General recommends that the Mission’s authorized military strength be increased by 850 troops, as well as an additional 85 civilian police advisers.  These resources would be used, among other tasks, in support of the demilitarization of Kisangani.

On the security front, the situation is very volatile, as demonstrated by the intensification of fighting between rebel groups in the north-east of the country.

“Grievous human rights violations, chronic food insecurity, population displacement, and outbreaks of infectious disease,” is how he portrays the humanitarian situation in the country.  Lack of security and continued clashes in the eastern part of the country significantly limit the access of humanitarian workers.

In his concluding paragraphs, the Secretary-General calls on all the parties to renew their commitment to carry out the Lusaka Accords.  “They should avail themselves of the unique opportunity created by the presence of the UN mission," he says, "to reach a viable solution to the conflict.”

Carolyn, welcome.  We'll get to you in just a minute.

**Western Sahara

The Security Council, in consultations today, is discussing a letter sent to them last month by UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell, in response to the Council’s request for his opinion on the legality of certain contracts signed by Morocco with foreign companies for the exploration of mineral resources in Western Sahara.

Mr. Corell is briefing the Council this morning.

In the letter, Corell concludes that the specific contracts dealt with in the Security Council’s request are not, in themselves, illegal.  However, if further exploration and exploitation activities were to proceed in disregard of the interests and wishes of the people of Western Sahara, they would be in violation of the international legal principles dealing with non-self-governing territories.

The letter was out on the racks last week.

This afternoon, the Council will meet again in closed consultations to discuss the Secretary-General’s report on the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which I just told you about.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative there and Chief of Mission, Amos Namanga Ngongi, will present the report.  We’ll let you know if Mr. Ngongi will speak at the stakeout after consultations.

**Security Council Mission

As you know, the Security Council will be leaving tomorrow evening on a five-day mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea.  Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby of Norway is scheduled to brief you on the mission tomorrow here in room 226 following the noon briefing.

**Secretary-General's Speech to NGO

Last night at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, the Secretary-General delivered remarks at a dinner organized by an NGO called "Shared Interest" to honour the actor Danny Glover, who is a UNDP Global Goodwill Ambassador.  Two others were also honoured -- the musician Hugh Masekela, and the editor of the magazine Essence, Susan Taylor.

"Shared Interest" is a not-for-profit social investment fund designed to enhance low-income South Africans' access to credit previously denied them because of their race, gender, or income.

The three were given the Shared Interest/African Century Challenge Leadership Award.

“Those who we are honouring tonight,” the Secretary-General said, ”and those who have been successful, are returning to give something back to help those who are less fortunate in our society.”

We have the full text of the Secretary-General's comments upstairs.

**Iraq Oil Update

Since yesterday was a holiday, our usual Tuesday feature, the "Iraq Oil Update", will be issued tomorrow instead.  On a related note, this afternoon at 3:30, the Council's Iraq Sanctions Committee will meet in Conference Room 8.  As usual, the Committee's Chairman, Ambassador Kolby of Norway, will brief journalists at the conclusion of the meeting. 

And, if you're interested, we have the agenda for the meeting available upstairs.

**Bosnia and Herzegovina

The UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) today welcomed the readiness expressed yesterday by the European Union to establish a new police mission in Bosnia on January 1, 2003, when the current UN mandate is completed.

The UN Mission said the EU decision “ensures the ongoing international commitment to strengthening the rule of law in Bosnia-Herzegovina in line with European standards.”  The Mission will continue to work with local police to complete its core mandate expeditiously, as it hopes to do by this December.

We have a press release from the Mission on that.

**Kosovo

We also have copies of the first address to the people of Kosovo by Michael Steiner, the Secretary-General’s new Special Representative for Kosovo, who took up his duties there last week.

The address is embargoed until 7:30 p.m. Kosovo time, which is 1:30 p.m. New York time.

**Human Rights

On human rights, Andreas Mavrommatis, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights dealing with human rights in Iraq, has completed his initial visit to that country and is preparing his report to the Commission, which will begin its annual meeting next month.

Mavrommatis’s visit to Iraq was the first by a UN human rights rapporteur since 1992, when then-rapporteur Max van der Stoel visited the country.  This time around, Mavrommatis and his delegation spent just over three days in Iraq, meeting with Government ministers, parliamentarians, politicians and religious dignitaries, as well as with two prominent Kurds from Baghdad.

Among his other visits were to two prisons, a children’s hospital, a food distribution outlet and religious sites in Baghdad and in Kerballa, a holy site for Shiite Moslems. 

The special rapporteur said that, in general, he had a meaningful exchange of views with the Government on human rights issues, and added that he expected this dialogue would be continued in the future.

We have a press release on that.

**Press Releases

Two other press releases to flag:  one from the World Food Programme announcing that it has so far received approximately $900,000 towards its emergency operation in Mozambique for 170,000 people still facing severe food shortages after two consecutive years of floods, but another $3.2 million is still urgently needed.

And, in a second release, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that travelling means taking risks, but not necessarily the ones you think.

According to a new guide for international travellers, you're more likely to be run over by a car than succumb to plague or the Ebola virus.  The guide and accompanying Web site* draw on the WHO’s global network of medical information to provide the very latest advice on prevention, vaccination, and what to do when travellers do fall ill.  *(http://www.who.int/ith/).

Any questions before we go to Carolyn?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  The European Union reportedly has decided to impose sanctions on the Zimbabwe leader, Robert G. Mugabe, and possibly on his Government.  Has the Union consulted with the Security Council or its Sanctions Committee or the Secretary-General, and does the UN have a position on this issue?

Spokesman:  There is no UN position that I have and I don't know about the consultations with the Council.  We'd have to ask the Council.  [He later said there had been no consultation with the Security Council.]

Question:  Could you provide the date when the Special Rapporteur on Iraq started?

Spokesman:  We announced it here and gave the specific dates at the time.  I don't have it here, but you can check with Stéphane Dujarric in my Office, he can give it to you.  [He later said it was from 10 to 14 February.]

Question:  Do you have a date for the report of the Secretary-General to the Council on Western Sahara?

Spokesman:  No, I think that is not expected until later this month –- it was delayed, the report on Western Sahara.  So, I believe it's late February that it is expected.  [He later corrected that, saying the report is now expected in the next day or so.]

If there are no more questions, Carolyn, how was your travel, speaking of travels?

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