DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Security Council

Good afternoon.

The Security Council today received a briefing in its closed consultations from Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno about recent developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), notably the fighting in the southeastern town of Moliro.

As we reported to you yesterday, the UN Mission in the country, called MONUC, has now deployed an observer team in Moliro, which is expected to maintain a permanent presence.  MONUC reports that some fighting is apparently still going on in and around Moliro, with elements of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD-Goma) reported to be heading for the area of Zongwe.

We have been informed that a draft resolution has been circulated on the DRC in the Security Council a short while ago.

Also today, the Council held consultations on the Liberia sanctions, during which the Chair of the Sanctions Committee for Liberia, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, discussed the Committee’s views on the recommendations contained in the recent report by the Panel of Experts on Liberia.

Hans Corell, the UN Legal Counsel, is expected to brief the Council on the report, which came out last week, of the planning mission that went to Sierra Leone in January to discuss the establishment of a Special Court in that country.  The report outlines a series of logistical arrangements and appointments that are envisioned by the end of May to allow the Court to begin its work later in the year.  Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Ralph Zacklin will brief you on the report at tomorrow’s noon briefing.

And at 4:30 this afternoon, members of the Council have been invited by Ambassador Mahbubani to a meeting, under the so-called “Arria formula,” on the role of women in the Mano River Union, which comprises Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

**Middle East

Turning to the Middle East, starting just at noon, more than 1,000 coffins draped with Israeli and Palestinian flags -- to represent deaths in the last 17 months of fighting in the Middle East -- will be displayed in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, at 47th Street and First Avenue.  The display is being organized by a non-governmental organization called "Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace."

The Secretary-General has issued a message to the ceremony, which is being delivered by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast, which says that the sea of coffins attests, better than any words, to the human

cost of the conflict.  He says of the display, “It takes great courage to speak of reconciliation when talk of despair, revenge and retribution fills the air.  It takes great humanity to recognize the pain we share with others who are most often painted as adversaries.”

He adds his hope that both sides will find the courage in the days ahead to step back from the abyss and return to the negotiating table.  We have his message upstairs in the Spokesman's Office.

On the ground today, the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen, saw Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, and discussed the Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian-controlled areas that has been under way today.  Later today, Larsen, accompanied by European Union, United States and Russian officials who form a “quartet” on Middle East issues, will host a dinner with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and visiting U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General and his wife, Nane Annan, today attended the launch of a National Forum on HIV/AIDS in Honduras, to which they were accompanied by Honduran President Ricardo Maduro Joest.  That launch concluded and the Secretary-General is heading for the airport to depart for Mexico, where, later this afternoon, he is scheduled to meet with President Vicente Fox and Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda.

The Secretary-General arrived in Tegucigalpa yesterday, after he had first met in Costa Rica with that country’s president, Miguel Angel Rodríguez Echevarria.  They discussed, among other issues, the University of Peace in Costa Rica, Afghanistan and the Conference on Financing for Development that started yesterday in Monterrey, Mexico.

Afterwards, the two held a joint press conference, at which the Secretary-General, in response to a question about departing High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, said, “She’s done a great job; she’s made a contribution; she’s put human rights on the map.”  You saw those comments yesterday.

After travelling to Honduras, the Secretary-General met with President Maduro, who awarded him with the Gran Cruz of Morazan, the nation’s highest award.  He then hosted a luncheon in the Secretary-General’s honour, after which they had an informal chat and then briefed the press.  We have a transcript of that briefing upstairs.

**Secretary-General's Speech in Monterrey

In response to a question and by popular demand, we will be making available advance copies of the Secretary-General’s statement to the International Conference on Financing for Development. 

Please note that the embargo time is 10 a.m. New York time on Thursday morning, which I am told is 9 a.m. in Monterrey.

**Secretary-General of Conference on Disarmament

I have a statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament:

“Following consultations with the Conference on Disarmament, the Secretary-General has announced the appointment of Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, with immediate effect, as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament.

“In that capacity, Mr. Ordzhonikidze will also act as the Secretary-General's Personal Representative to the Conference.”

**Cyprus

Turning to Cyprus, the Secretary-General will be reviewing progress in the Cyprus talks in the first week of April, which is approximately the mid-point between the start of direct talks between the Cypriot leaders in January and the June target date for significant progress on the issue.

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, will come to New York to review progress with the Secretary-General, after first visiting Ankara and Athens for consultations, on, respectively, 28 and 29 March.  While he is here in New York, De Soto will brief the members of the Security Council.

**Afghanistan

On Afghanistan, we have a number of developments reported in Kabul today.

The flow of refugees going back to Afghanistan is continuing at an accelerated rate.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today reported that yesterday alone over 8,900 Afghans returned from Pakistan.

In total, more than 54,000 Afghans have returned home since UNHCR started its voluntary return programme earlier this month.

Inside Afghanistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) is reopening bakeries in Mazar-i-Sharif and increasing the capacity of female-run bakeries and Kabul.  The bakeries, run by women, supply fresh bread to needy Afghans, including thousands of schoolchildren.  Eventually, WFP hopes to reach over a quarter of a million young students through this effort.

You can read more about these developments in the briefing notes upstairs.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced that the fund set up to help kick-start the Afghan Interim Authority has received more than $26 million from international donors.  The Fund is being used to pay civil service salaries and cover crucial administrative costs.

There’s a UNDP press release on the racks with more information.

**Iraq

The weekly update from the Office of the Iraq Programme is out.  It indicates that, with only one loading from the Ceyhan terminal on 10 March, Iraq’s oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food Programme plummeted to 11.4 million barrels in the week of 9 to 15 March.

There were six loadings from the second authorized loading terminal of Mina al-Bakr.

Estimated revenue generated from the exports amounted to $245 million, at current prices and rate of exchange.

Funding difficulties, as a result of diminishing oil revenues, continued to persist.  Some 777 contracts for humanitarian supplies, worth $1.7 billion, have been approved but no funds are available.

The full text of the OIP weekly update is available upstairs.

**Budget

Today, three more Member States made full payments of their 2002 regular budget contributions.  The Bahamas made a payment of more than $133,000, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic paid more than $11,000 and Italy made a payment of more than $56 million.  There are now 62 fully paid-up Member States, exactly the same number as this time last year.

Also today, Japan made a contribution of more than $508 million towards their arrears and current contributions for peacekeeping operations.

**Press Releases

The World Food Programme today approved an emergency operation in Guatemala to assist 155,000 people.  The operation includes assisting more than 59,000 children under five years of age suffering from acute malnutrition.  After an initial treatment at therapeutic feeding centres for 65 days, the children will be discharged and continue receiving special attention at existing home day care centres.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, today announced the launch of a three-year programme to make women central to reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS in 10 countries.  The programme will build national capacity to review laws and policies related to HIV/AIDS, and will work with National AIDS Councils to increase the understanding of the impact of the disease on women.  The countries involved in the programme are Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, India, Cambodia, Thailand, Barbados and Brazil.

The press releases are available upstairs.

**Press Conferences

There are no press conferences scheduled for today and, as I mentioned earlier, the guest at tomorrow's noon briefing will be Ralph Zacklin, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, who will brief us on the Sierra Leone special court.

That's all the announcements I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: There seem to be conflicting reports about the financial position of the United Nations.  Some people say it’s pretty good, other people say it’s not so good.  You just mentioned today a large contribution by Japan, for its arrears and for peacekeeping, but presumably a fairly sizeable chunk of that will go to United Nations housekeeping.  Yet yesterday, the place was like an icebox because the heating had apparently been reduced.  God forbid that we should have a long, hot summer because then, presumably, we wouldn't have any air-conditioning

to speak of.  So what is the situation?  Is the United Nations in good shape or is it not?

Spokesman: Let me answer the first question first about the lack of heating in the building. That has to do with the cuts in the support budget.  Due to those, there are a lot of support services, including heating, conference services and other services provided that have been cut.  It appears that we are all suffering from the lack of heat throughout the building, whether we're on the third floor here or the thirty-eighth floor.  People coming in working on the weekends are even more affected by this.

In terms of the overall picture, I just learned of this $508 million contribution, so I can't give you an exact breakdown on what part of it went into arrears and what part of it went into peacekeeping operations.

I think we'd like to ask an expert how the United Nations is doing financially, and I'd like to invite somebody to come and talk to you about that.

Question: Do you know the exact time for the ceremony for the Israelis and Palestinians at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza?

Spokesman: It was scheduled to start at noon.  The only UN component is the short message we just flagged that was delivered by Kieran Prendergast on behalf of the Secretary-General.

Question: Was the Secretary-General able to talk or send a message to the Israelis and Palestinians?

Spokesman: I've not heard anything new today.  As I just mentioned to you, his envoy in the Middle East, Roed Larsen, is actively working on his behalf in trying to bring the parties together.  We just gave you an update on that.

Are there no other questions?  Have a good afternoon.  Thank you.

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