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.

**Noon Guest

Good afternoon.  We have a treat for you today.  One of your own, Celhia de Lavarène, is back.  She had been a reporter here at the UN.  She’s now the Special Adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Bosnia on trafficking.  And she will give you a report on her work in just a few minutes. 

**Secretary-General at Ageing Conference

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four?” the Secretary-General said in his comments on Ageing in Madrid today.  He opened the Conference on his sixty-fourth birthday, quoting the Beatles’ song from the 1960s, but not singing it, and also giving the answer.  “I trust the answer is yes, older people will be provided for, and yes, older people will be needed, in the twenty-first century.”

The number of older persons will rise from 600 million now to about

2 billion by 2050, he said, with most of the increase in the developing world. “Ageing is definitely no longer just a first world issue”, he commented.  On his way out of the Assembly hall, he was stopped by journalists who asked about the Middle East.  He said, “It is really very, very serious when you consider that a large number of people are without water.  They’re short of food and medications, and the humanitarian workers do not have freedom of movement.  The whole world is demanding that Israel withdraws”.  “I don’t think the whole world, including the friends of the Israeli Government, can be wrong.”

Asked about the purpose of Wednesday´s meeting with representatives of the European Union and the Russian Federation, including United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, he said they want to give Mr. Powell “a message of support and solidarity” and wish him a successful mission to the Middle East.  “It’s not going to be easy”, he added.  The Secretary-General also attended the World NGO Forum on Ageing today, where he made a statement and took questions.  After that, he met with President Jose Maria Aznar and Foreign Minister Josep Piqué of Spain before attending a luncheon hosted by the President.  His programme is on the Web.  The text of his statement, and the transcript of the press encounter, are available in my Office.

**Security Council

This morning the Security Council is holding back-to-back private meetings, the first with the Permanent Representative of Israel, Yehuda Lancry, and the second with the Permanent Observer for Palestine, Nasser Al-Kidwa.  Prior to a public meeting on the Middle East, the Council is set to meet in consultations, to be briefed by the Secretariat on the situation on the ground.  The public meeting is being held at the request submitted by Tunisia on behalf of the Arab Group.

Last night the Council met in closed consultations on the Middle East, following a request for a meeting on the issue submitted by the Arab Group.  After three hours of consultations, the President of the Council, Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of Russia, issued a statement to the press, on behalf of the Council.  It said that members of the Council are “seriously concerned at the further deterioration of the situation and violation of international humanitarian law on the Palestinian territories, including many victims among the civilian population and a threat of destruction of the Palestinian Authority”.  The statement went on to say that “The continuation of violence by the power in control of events on the ground is unacceptable.”  In the statement, the members of the Council also expressed their concern at the violations along the “Blue Line”.

**Middle East Humanitarian Condition

The humanitarian conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory continue to deteriorate rapidly.  Yesterday, Peter Hansen, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said the Israeli Army “has made a hellish battleground among the civilians in the Balata and Jenin refugee camps”.  The UNRWA said it was receiving reports of helicopters strafing civilian residential areas; heavy artillery shelling; and bulldozers razing refugee homes to the ground.  Food and medicine will soon run out, he said.  “In the name of human decency”, Mr. Hansen went on, “the Israeli military must allow our ambulances safe passage to help evacuate the wounded and deliver emergency supplies of medicines and food.”

He added that international conventions that protect non-combatants in times of conflict, of which Israel is a signatory, are worthless if not adhered to precisely at times like these.  “The world is watching”, Mr. Hansen said.  “And Israel needs to end this pitiless assault on civilian refugee camps.”  According to the Agency, its ambulances and food trucks have been repeatedly refused access to the West Bank camps over the past three days.  They are ready to move immediately the moment when the Israeli military can guarantee that they will not come under fire from its troops.  The full text of the press release is available upstairs.

**Middle East Human Rights

You’ll recall that last Friday the Commission on Human Rights voted to request High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to lead a visiting mission to travel immediately to the Middle East and report back expeditiously on its findings.  Today, Ms. Robinson told the Commission that former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and Cyril Ramaphosa, the former Secretary-General of South Africa’s African National Congress, have agreed to join that mission.  The members of the mission will be holding consultations in Geneva, including with the Israeli representatives, so that they can depart to the Middle East immediately.  We have a press release with more details.

**Lebanon

Today, amid continuing incidents along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for southern Lebanon, Staffan di Mistura, met with the Lebanese Minister of Defence, Khalil Harawi. 

Mr. di Mistura conveyed the United Nations’ deep concern regarding the risks and serious consequences of escalation in south Lebanon.  Over the weekend, there were a number of incidents along the Blue Line, notably on Saturday, when rockets were fired from Lebanese territory into the village of Ghahar, which is bisected by the Blue Line.

The Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Lalit Tewari, went to the village himself and was told that five children had been wounded as a result of the attack.  Israeli forces also retaliated to shooting from the Lebanese side with artillery and air raids on targets in Lebanon.  Late yesterday, Mr. di Mistura spoke to reporters at United Nations House in Beirut.  “No reasonable person can have doubts about the potential for escalation and miscalculation in this present climate”, he said.  “All sides must exercise restraint.”  He urged the Lebanese Government to exert control over incidents originating from its territory and “to concretely take the necessary measures in order to not allow further violations from this side that could enflame the Blue Line”.  We have the full text of Mr. di Mistura’s statement upstairs.

**Iraq

According to the UN oil monitors, the transfer of oil from Iraq to the Ceyhan loading terminal in Turkey ceased at 5 a.m. New York time today.  Iraqi oil authority personnel at Ceyhan advised the UN oil monitors that this was on the direct instructions of their authorities in Baghdad.  At the other loading terminal, Mina al-Bakr, one vessel completed loading today.  There are two other vessels awaiting loading.  At this time, it is not clear whether they will, in fact, take on their oil cargo.

**Angola

In Luanda, Angola, today, the UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser for Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, met this morning with Angola’s President, José Eduardo dos Santos.  Speaking to the press after that meeting, Mr. Gambari said that he had delivered a message, from the Secretary-General of the UN for the Angolan President, about the end of the fighting.

Mr. Gambari said that the war had ended with no vanquished and no victory; “victory”, he said, “belongs to the people of Angola”.  He added that he had discussed with President dos Santos details about the 15-point peace plan released on 13 March, and talked about the way the United Nations can assist the Angolan Government.  He added that he will submit a report to the Secretary-General and to the Security Council, dealing with both humanitarian assistance and sanctions-related issues.  On those matters, further discussion will have to be undertaken before the Security Council is able to take final decisions in consultation with the Government of Angola.

**Afghanistan Humanitarian

Yesterday in Afghanistan, a UN team went to the central town of Bamiyan to investigate reports that an unknown number of bodies had been found buried near that town’s airport.  The team is composed of the Human Rights Adviser of the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), and its Police Adviser, accompanied by a representative of the Ministry of the Interior.  It went to the site and undertook a preliminary assessment.  They saw body parts but could not determine the exact number of bodies.  The UNAMA was informed over the weekend that representatives of the ethnic Hazara community in Bamiyan believe that the graves contain bodies of members of their community, which they claimed were killed approximately one month before the fall of the Taliban.  The mission is now back in Kabul to prepare a report on its recommendations.  And we have some more details in yesterday’s briefing note from Kabul.

**Afghanistan Drug Eradication

Hamid Ghodse, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), today welcomed the decree issued last week by Afghanistan’s Interim Administration, on the eradication of drugs.  He particularly welcomed the fact that, for the first time, loans made to farmers can no longer be repaid in the form of opium.  The INCB urged the authorities in Afghanistan to make every effort to ensure that the ban is strictly and effectively enforced.  It also remains concerned by information received from the Interim Administration that poppy cultivation has resumed at a relatively high level throughout the country, after the considerable decline that had been recorded last year.

We have more in a press release from the UN Information Service in Vienna.

**Inter-Korean Relations

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of relations between the Koreas:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea to ‘bring back on track the inter-Korean relations’.  He is particularly encouraged by their pledge to actively pursue inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation, which is crucial to establishing lasting peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.  The Secretary-General also hopes to see an early resumption of dialogue between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United States, Japan and other interested countries so as to address issues of mutual concern.”

**Press Releases

One press release to highlight for you today.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a revised fact sheet on diabetes, a disease that affects

150 million people worldwide.  Diabetes is caused by the body’s failure to produce enough insulin, resulting in high concentrations of glucose in the blood.  The fact sheet with more information is available upstairs.

**Press Conferences

A press conference, in addition to Celhia de Lavarène, who is here, please join us.  At 12:45 p.m. tomorrow, the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh is sponsoring a press conference on the occasion of the closing of the 2002 Gandhi-King Season for Non-violence.  Any questions before we go to Celhia? 

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Did the oil overseers say whether the Iraqi overseers had explained why they had given instructions to cut off the flow of oil?

Spokesman:  To my knowledge, no.

Question:  What is the content of the Secretary-General’s message to Angola’s President dos Santos?

Spokesman:  Delivered by Mr. Gambari?  Look at the press release for any additional details.

Question:  Do you have an addition to a statement that Mr. Hansen of UNRWA put out yesterday?  Have there been any communications from UNWRA to the Israeli Government in the last few days, and whether this is at all true or not, have there been any responses at all, to your knowledge, from the Israeli Government to the previous communications that the Israelis received from Mr. Hansen?

Spokesman:  I don’t have the freshest information on that, but the last we had, which I think was last Friday, was that the Israelis had not responded to any UNRWA requests.  And I’d have to ask you to check with Stéphane in my Office for whatever he might have from today as an update.  [Despite numerous letters from UNRWA, Israel has still not replied.]

Celhia, you’ve been working in Bosnia on the issue of trafficking.  And we also have some handouts.  Why don’t you tell us a little about what you’ve been doing?

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