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 transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary General.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General is now en route, via London, to Beirut, Lebanon, where he will address the Arab Summit on Wednesday.

In the margins of that Summit, he will hold a number of bilateral meetings on Wednesday afternoon, and in the evening he will attend a dinner in honour of the heads of delegations hosted by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

On Thursday, he will visit with UN representatives and staff at UN House in Beirut and then meet with the commanders of the three UN forces in the region as well as with his envoys Terje Roed Larsen and Staffan di Mistura.

He will return to London Thursday evening and then fly out to New York Friday morning.

**Iraq Talks

We can now confirm that the next round of talks between the Secretary-General and the Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri will take place on 18 and

19 April here in New York.

**Statement on Attack on Congolese Church

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman, on the incident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday:

"The Secretary-General is deeply shocked to learn the tragic news of the grenade attack on the congregation of a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo town of Goma yesterday, which has reportedly left three people dead and many more injured.

"The Secretary-General strongly condemns this attack, which has compounded the grief and sorrow of the population of Goma, which has only recently suffered the deadly eruption of Mount Nyiragongo.

"He calls for an expeditious investigation into this incident, and commends the United Nations Mission (MONUC) in the country for the assistance provided to the victims of the attack by providing transportation to the medical facilities in Kigali as well as in Goma."

**Afghanistan

Saturday was a historic day for Afghanistan, as the new Afghan school year began, with roughly one and a half million boys and girls throughout the country returning to school -– following more than five years during which girls, and many boys, were denied the opportunity to attend school.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, attending the opening on Saturday of the Amani School in Kabul, said, “Never before has the start of the school year in one country been greeted with such eagerness and enthusiasm by people from all over the world."

He added that the start of the school year should mark the beginning, not the end, of international efforts, saying, “Something that has been destroyed over 23 years cannot be rebuilt overnight, and continued international support and engagement -– not only this year, but for years to come –- will be essential."

Brahimi left yesterday to go to Beirut, where he will attend the Arab Summit along with the Secretary-General, starting on Wednesday.  After that, he will go to Geneva, where on 30 March he will participate in the meeting of the Geneva Initiative, a forum to deal with Afghanistan which brings together Italy, Iran, Germany and the United States.

We have the notes of the briefing in Kabul in my office.

**Security Council     

The Security Council will be meeting in closed consultations this afternoon.

Council members will be discussing a draft Presidential statement on Angola.

Also on the agenda is Somalia.  Council members will be discussing concrete ways to support peace efforts in Somalia, including a revitalization of the arms embargo established in resolution 733 (1992) and a possible pilot programme to prepare for a comprehensive and integrated peace-building mission once security conditions permit.

**Day of Solidarity with Detained/Missing Staff

Today is the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, and, in a message to mark the day, the Secretary-General notes that almost every UN entity has lost a staff member in the line of duty, asserting, “Risk comes with the territory, but greater protection is possible.”

He says it is encouraging that the General Assembly has just provided additional resources for training, equipping, counselling and personnel to boost UN security efforts.  Still, he says, greater political will is also needed by governments and all parties in armed conflicts to provide the protection and access that UN staff, humanitarian personnel and journalists need.

We have copies of his message upstairs.

Also today, Shashi Tharoor, the Interim Head of the Department of Public Information, will moderate a panel discussion, scheduled for 1:15 p.m. in Conference Room 3, on the hazards of working on the frontlines, at which several of your colleagues will speak and of course, you’re all invited.

**Rwanda Tribunal

Next week, starting 2 April, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will begin a trial of four key Rwandan military figures, including a colonel, Théonèse Bagosora, who is alleged to have been the mastermind of the plot to exterminate Rwanda’s Tutsi population in 1994.

In a note on a press briefing held today by the Tribunal, we have more information about next week’s trial.  The note also points out that the Tribunal has apprehended and detained 60 of the approximately 75 people who have been indicted by the prosecutor, with four of the accused having been apprehended and transferred to the Tribunal’s custody just over the past three weeks.

**East Timor

Today, the Transitional Government of the United Nations Mission in East Timor, or UNTAET, issued the Policy on Justice and Return Procedures in East Timor.  The policy elaborates justice procedures for dealing with returning refugees suspected of committing crimes in 1999.  Those suspected of lesser crimes will be eligible to participate in the community-based Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, while those suspected of committing serious crimes will be dealt with by the criminal justice system.

In other news from East Timor, the Government of Indonesia and UNTAET reached agreement over the weekend for a plan to promote the return of East Timorese refugees living in West Timor.  Both sides agreed to provide relevant and accurate information to the 45,000 refugees and assist in their repatriation.

We have more details in the briefing note from Dili.  We also have copies of the Policy document.

**Preparations for Summit on Sustainable Development

The latest round of preparatory talks for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which is to begin on 26 August in Johannesburg, South Africa, started today in New York.  The Secretary-General of that Summit, Nitin Desai, said of the upcoming meeting, “If we think ahead and act now, we can change from business as usual to a new way of conducting political business, so that everyone –- including future generations –- can benefit.”

We have a press release and press kits for the Summit available upstairs. The current round of preparatory talks will go on through 5 April.

**Signings

One treaty was signed here this morning, when the Seychelles became the 121st signatory to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

And we can confirm that last Thursday –- and we missed this one, I apologize –- Panama deposited the instrument of ratification for the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.  So we’re creeping very close to the

60 ratifications needed to bring that into force.  Panama became the 56^th ratifier.

**Budget

Romania became the 63rd Member State to be paid in full for the 2002 regular budget dues with a payment of just over $655,000.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Do you know when Mr. Brahimi is supposed to be here next?  Is he planning on coming here after Geneva?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I’ll have to check and get back to you.

[Following the briefing, it was announced that no dates had been scheduled yet for Mr. Brahimi’s return to New York.]

Question:  Concerning the dates of the Iraqi talks, can you give us a little background as to how those are arrived at, what the significance is of having two days, what the agenda or cast of characters might be?

Spokesman:  These dates were originally proposed by the Secretary-General at the end of the last round of talks.  We only heard from the Iraqis, I believe, on Friday confirming that they would be here on those dates.  I think the Secretary-General himself felt that two days rather than one might be necessary.  He’s hoping for substantive and focused discussion specifically of the issue of the return of arms inspectors to Iraq.  I don’t have the delegations.  I assume it would be similar to what we had in the first round but as soon as I get that information, I’ll give it to you.

Follow-up Question:  Have they indicated anything about a possible third session after that?

Spokesman:  I haven’t heard mention of a third session but I couldn’t exclude it.  I just haven’t heard it mentioned.

Follow-up Question:  Is there any sort of schedule for the sessions on the 18 and 19?

Spokesman:  I have no further details at this time.

Question:  What does the Secretary-General hope the Security Council does with the questions submitted to the Council on behalf of Iraq?

Spokesman:  I think he’s submitting them for Council members' information, and a number of them of course would have to be answered by the Council.  It wouldn’t be for the Secretary-General to answer.  Whether the Council intends to do that formally or informally or at all, I don’t know.  You’ll have to check with them.

Follow-up Question:  Does he think that they should answer because the United States said they were?

Spokesman:  He’s just submitted the questions to them without giving his views.

Question:  How did the Secretary-General assess the outcome of the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development?

Spokesman:  Very successful.  Primarily, I think because in the lead up to the Conference there seemed to be recognition by not only the European Union but also the United States of the importance of foreign aid.  Although the commitments, in dollar amounts, fall short of the overall requirements, I think he feels that the corner has been turned in recognizing the problem and the need for more resources to deal with it.  It was a good strong beginning, I think, to what he hopes will be a new effort on the part of the developed countries to increase aid, reduce trade barriers and spur on development of the poor countries, because that’s in everyone’s interest. 

Question:  Would you say that the Secretary-General would be expecting answers to those questions by the time the talks start?

Spokesman:  No, I didn’t say that at all.  I have no comment other than to say that he’s passed on the questions.  It’s up to the Council to deal with it.  He’s not expressed any preference or given any timetable.

Question:  Should Mr. Arafat go to Beirut on Thursday and Friday?  Would the Secretary-General consider meeting with him possibly?

Spokesman:  Yes.

Question:  Would the Secretary-General want the answers back from the Council by April 10?

Spokesman:  I’m not aware of that.  I’d have to double check.

Question:  Do you see this as the last round?  What does he want to see that would make him say, let’s keep talking?

Spokesman:  He’s the intermediary here.  The issue is between the Security Council, which has demanded certain things of Iraq, and Iraq, which has refused to comply.  Iraq has now signaled to the Secretary-General, let’s talk about compliance.  The Secretary-General is not empowered by the Council to negotiate anything less than full compliance.  So, what he hopes for is Iraq signaling to him, or to the Council through him, that they’re ready to comply fully.

Question:  The Government of Angola is moving towards (inaudible) and the integration of UNITA members into civil society.  Do you see any move by the Security Council to end sanctions against this country?

Spokesman:  I don’t have any guidance on that subject.  I’ll have to look into that and get back to you.

Question:  What can you tell us, if anything, about the timing of the release, possibly here this week, of the Secretary-General’s remarks to the Beirut Summit?

Spokesman:  We don’t have a specific time that we could give the text to you on an embargoed basis.  It’s being kept a little bit more confidential than some other speeches that he’s given in the past.  In fact, I might have to discuss that with the Secretary-General tomorrow and then we’ll announce tomorrow whether we can give it out to you on Tuesday or maybe wait till Wednesday morning.  It’s not clear yet.

Follow-up Question:  So it might not be released on an embargo basis at all or the embargo might be very close to delivery?

Spokesman:  Yes, that’s right.  There’s no decision yet.

Question:  The Secretary-General’s speech and letter regarding Israel . . . has there been any subsequent fallout or rapprochement between the Secretary-General and the Israeli Government following this angry exchange?  Any further contact, letters, anything?

Spokesman:  His views on the question of the use of the word “illegal” in his statement to the Security Council were laid out in the letter to The New York Times that I signed and that appeared on Saturday.  I don’t think that we want to get into conservative, legal interpretations concerning the Israeli occupation.  What we’re talking about is what the Security Council and the General Assembly

have addressed over the years, which is what Israel has done as an occupying power, which both the Council and the Assembly have considered illegal.

Question:  Has the Israeli Government responded to the Secretary-General’s request for an investigation of the death of the United Nations worker in the ambulance?

Spokesman:  To my knowledge, no.  Let me double check on that to see if there’s any recent development but the last I heard was no.  [There was not.]

Follow-up Question:  And there has been no response to the Secretary-General’s letter? 

Spokesman:  Also, to my knowledge, no. [There were none.]

Question:  Who is accompanying the Secretary-General to the Arab League Summit?

Spokesman:  Mr. Prendergast from the Secretariat, Mr. Brahimi, his Special Envoy.  Of course, in the area, he has Terje Roed Larsen and Staffan di Mistura, who will also be there.  So, that’s basically his political team.

Question:  Just a clarification, is it next Monday that those four accused are appearing at the Rwanda Tribunal?

Spokesman:  Next week, starting the 2nd of April, the trial will begin.

Question: W hat will happen here when the 60^th country deposits its ratification?  Will there be any comment, does the Secretary-General intend to speak, what will happen?

Spokesman:  There’s discussion of organizing some kind of an event.  I understand there’s a bit of competition among Member States as to who might be the 60^th ratifier.  So we’re negotiating a compromise solution and as soon as we have it, we’ll announce it.

Question:  Who are the countries involved in this discussion?

Spokesman:  I’m not prepared to say but there are a number of countries who are very close to ratifying.  Some might even have been holding back waiting to get close to the 60 number.  We’re trying to arrange a way for a number of countries to ratify at the same time.  We’ll let you know if we can negotiate that.

Question:  Last night at the Oscars, the film “No Man’s Land” won the Best Foreign Film Award, a film critical of a lot of actors in the Bosnian, Balkans drama of '92, '93.  First, have you seen it and has the Secretary-General seen it?  Do you have any comment on this film winning, beating “Amélie”? 

Spokesman:  You know I don’t go to the movies much.  So, I haven’t seen the film.  I particularly try to avoid films on Bosnia, for personal reasons.  I don’t know if the Secretary-General might have seen it.  I’d have to ask him.  Therefore, I have no reaction.

Thank you very much.

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