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.

**Guests

We're happy to have today, and they'll be here in a few minutes, members of the panel of experts on Liberia sanctions.  I think you've all seen their report.

Harjit Singh Sandhu of India, who is an expert from Interpol, will act as spokesman.  And he'll be accompanied by:  Atabou Bodian of Senegal, an expert from the International Civil Aviation Organization; Johan Peleman of Belgium, an expert on arms and transportation; and Alex Vines of the United Kingdom, an expert on diamonds.  They'll be here shortly. [In the end, Mr. Vines did not show up.]

**Middle East

This morning in Jerusalem, Terje Roed Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, met with members of the diplomatic corps, as well as World Bank and UNRWA representatives, to update them on the economic, humanitarian and political situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.

He then held a previously scheduled press conference.  In his opening statement, referring to his visit yesterday to Jenin refugee camp, he said:  “Let me be very clear I have not and I am not accusing anyone of massacres.  We do not have the full facts from Jenin.  But what I saw yesterday was truly appalling.”  “The destruction was massive; the stench overwhelming”, he said. 

He went on to say that his primary criticism of the Israeli Government was that it did not act adequately to respond to the humanitarian situation in the camp.

Larsen said his primary focus is that everything possible is being done to alleviate the suffering of civilians in both Jenin and elsewhere.  To that end, he appealed for a lifting of the curfew, as well as for political and financial support for the humanitarian agencies, particularly UNRWA [the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Palestinian Red Crescent, which are faced with major new responsibilities.

As for the impact of the current situation on the Palestinian economy, Larsen summed it up as follows:  “The Palestinian economy has moved from a relentless economic depression into economic paralysis.”  The latest figures show that at least 75 per cent of productive activities in the West Bank have come to a halt; and at least 75 per cent of the work force is now idle.  We have the full text of his remarks upstairs.

**UNRWA

According to an update we received from UNRWA this morning, the Agency continued its emergency food distribution in several areas in the West Bank, in particular, in the Nablus and Jenin areas.

Food shortages are reported in Nablus, particularly flour, which is the main commodity being distributed by UNRWA in that area.  The UNRWA also did emergency food distributions in a number of villages in the Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah areas, including some neighbourhoods of Ramallah town, itself.

UNRWA's medical team in Jenin operated from the Agency's clinic in the camp today.  The curfew on Jenin town and camp has been lifted, although a tight closure remains around both areas.  Of UNRWA's 95 schools in the West Bank, only 13 are operating due to the closures and curfews.

Preliminary estimates of damage to refugee shelters in the latest incursion on 29 March show that over 300 shelters in Tulkarm, Nur Shams, Balata, Askar and Camp Number 1 have been severely damaged, in addition to some 800 shelters in Jenin camp.  One hundred seventy other refugee houses in Qalqilia and Hebron towns have also been damaged, according to the same initial estimates.

**Human Rights

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is just announcing in Geneva that the proposed visiting mission to the Middle East will not take place.

Following a telephone conversation between former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, who was to have gone on that mission, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the members of the mission have learned that it will not be facilitated by the Israeli authorities.  Robinson will report to the Commission sometime next week on this matter.

**Security Council

This morning, Council members held closed consultations for about 30 minutes on the Middle East.  They have now resumed the public meeting on the Middle East, which began yesterday afternoon.  All non-members have already spoken and the members of the Council are now delivering their statements. 

It is expected that Council members will return to closed consultations again, following the close of the public meeting.

For those of you who may have missed it, early yesterday afternoon, the Council voted to extend until 19 October 2002 the mandate of the monitoring mechanism to investigate violations of sanctions against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA.

**Appointments to Sierra Leone Court

The Secretary-General is appointing David Crane of the United States as Prosecutor, and Robin Vincent of the United Kingdom as Registrar, of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

On Tuesday of this week, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone, Ambassador Allieu Ibrahim Kanu, and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations, Hans Corell, exchanged the instruments that brought into force the agreement between the United Nations and Sierra Leone that was signed on

16 January.

The Secretary-General will now proceed with the appointment of judges for the Court, and as indicated in the Security Council resolution, the majority of these will be from Africa.

**Liberia Sanctions

The report of the UN panel of experts on sanctions against Liberia is now available, and the panellists will be able to answer any questions about their findings. 

The Sanctions Committee on Liberia is taking up the report today at 3 p.m., and, as is customary, the chairman of the Committee -– in this case Kishore Mahbubani, the Ambassador of Singapore –- should be available for remarks after the meeting, which takes place in Conference Room 7.  The report is on the agenda of Security Council consultations for next Monday. 

The report makes recommendations on a number of areas, including arms and diamond sales, air transportation, and travel by Liberian officials.  For example, the panel recommends that the arms embargo on Liberia be continued, and urges Member States to assist in the set-up of a credible certification scheme for diamonds before a suspension of the diamond ban can be considered by the Security Council.  It also links arms transport with Liberia’s Bureau of Maritime Affairs. The panel notes Liberia has the world’s second largest maritime fleet.

The report concludes that while it found credible evidence of small clusters of ex-Revolutionary United Front (RUF) forces fighting in Liberia as guns for hire, there did not seem to be a connection with the new political party of the RUF in Sierra Leone.

**Madagascar

We have a statement welcoming the agreement reached between President Didier Ratsiraka and Marc Ravalomanana in Dakar, Senegal, yesterday.  The Secretary-General expresses the hope that, with this agreement, the constitutional order in Madagascar will be restored very soon.  You can pick up the text in my Office.

**ICC/Secretary-General's Message

The Secretary-General just addressed the closing day of the current session of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, and recalled last week’s breakthrough, when the Rome Statute for the Court passed the threshold of 60 ratifications that it needed to enter into force.

Now, he said, “with the unusually rapid entry of the Statute into force, we are witnessing a great victory for justice, and for world order -– a turn-away from the rule of brute force, and towards the rule of law.”

He noted that countries that apply the rule of law and prosecute criminals promptly and fairly need not fear, and added, “It is where they fail that the Court will step in.”

He also urged that those who have not done so join in ratifying the Statute, arguing that “the best defence against evil will be a Court in which every country plays its part”.

We have the full statement upstairs.

**Myanmar

Mr. Razali Ismail, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar, will visit Yangon from 23 to 26 April to help facilitate the national reconciliation process in Myanmar.  And we have a statement upstairs with more details of that visit.

**Kosovo

Today in Kosovo, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Michael Steiner, met with Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and pledged that the UN Mission in Kosovo and the Tribunal were working for the same goal:  to establish the rule of law.

Del Ponte told reporters after the meeting that her office has opened three investigations dealing with Kosovo Liberation Army perpetrators, and that she hoped to issue the first indictment in those cases this year.  We have a transcript of the press briefing upstairs.

**Land Borders -- East Timor/Indonesia

Representatives of East Timor and Indonesia are scheduled to begin a joint reconnaissance survey next week aimed at demarcating the countries’ common land borders.  Participants include surveyors from both countries’ mapping and surveying agencies and representatives from each side’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Logistical support will be provided by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor and the Indonesian military.  The launch of the border demarcation process has been a major goal of the United Nations before the end of the transition period.

**Helicopter in Democratic Republic of Congo

Yesterday afternoon, a helicopter belonging to the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was shot at while ferrying UN military observers near the town of Moliro, in the eastern DRC, where the UN is monitoring the withdrawal of troops from the Congolese army and from the Rally for the Congolese Democracy rebel group.

The helicopter was not hit by the heavy fire, which originated from a patrol boat on Lake Tanganyika.  In a press release issued in Kinshasa, the UN Mission said the attack was intolerable and that it showed certain parties still favoured a military resolution to the conflict.  An investigation has been opened.  And we have a press release on that in French only.

**ECOSOC/World Bank/IMF

Next Monday, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will hold a meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions –- the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -– starting at 9:30 a.m. in the ECOSOC Chamber, and the Secretary-General is expected to speak.

This year’s meeting is intended to focus on a dialogue about the outcome of last month’s Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, as well as on meetings of the committees that deal with the Bretton Woods institutions.

The meeting will include participation by ECOSOC and finance ministers, and other high-level officials who represent governments at the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF.  Then at 1:15 p.m. in this room, there will be a press conference with ECOSOC President Ivan Simonovic and South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on the meeting.

**UNHCR

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the return of Afghan refugees from neighbouring countries today hit the 300,000 mark. And, UNHCR says, at its current rate, the repatriation movement of the world's largest refugee group is shaping up to be the biggest and fastest since 800,000 refugees went home to Kosovo in 1999.

The UN refugee agency also today expressed shock and great concern by the growing incidence and viciousness of racist attacks against foreigners -– including many refugees and asylum seekers –- In Moscow. 

**NPT Preparatory Committee

The Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, will end its first session today.

One hundred and thirty-seven States out of 187 parties to the Treaty participated in the work of this session, which started on 8 April.  The session has just adopted its report, and the Chairman's summary is an annex to that report.  And you can get copies either from Conference Room 4 or from the Department for Disarmament Affairs.

The second session of the Preparatory Committee is scheduled to take place in Geneva from 28 April to 9 May 2003.

**MOU on Internally Displaced

The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kenzo Oshima, and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Internally Displaced Persons, Francis Deng, signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to improve the efforts of the United Nations to respond to severe crises of internal displacement around the world.

According to the terms of the agreement, the two units will jointly design and develop strategies for the promotion, dissemination and application of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the handbook for applying those Principles.  We have a press release with more details.

**Earth Day

You might have noticed some tents on the North Lawn.  They've been put up for an event to mark Earth Day on Monday, when the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Earth Day Network will host a celebrity breakfast. 

Nitin Desai, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will give the keynote address to an audience which includes actors Kevin Bacon and Susan Sarandon, and artist Peter Max.  We have a press release with more details.

**Secretary-General to Harvard

On events for next week, the Secretary-General will travel to Boston on Wednesday to deliver the 2002 Godkin Lecture at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“Globalization and Governance in Africa” will be the theme of the Secretary-General’s address.  It will be given starting at 6 p.m., and he's expected to review the state of African development and the efforts of Africa’s leaders through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to bring progress to the continent.

Harvard says the lecture will be Web cast live.  The Godkin Lecture series was established in 1903 in memory of Edwin Lawrence Godkin, editor of The Nation and The New York Evening Post.

**The Week Ahead

We have "The Week Ahead" for you, which you can pick up in my Office. 

**World Chronicle

There'll be a screening of another World Chronicle programme, this one featuring Ambassador Andre Erdos (Hungary), the Chairman of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) for the fifty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly.  And, you can see that at 3:30 p.m. on in-house television channel 3 or 31. 

Any questions before we bring the panel up here?  Yes?

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Can you tell us so far the number of Palestinians detained by the Israelis and their status?

Spokesman:  No.  We would have no way to have that information.  You'd have to get that information from the Israeli Government.

Question:  Is the UN concerned?

Spokesman:  The UN is concerned with the whole of the Middle East situation.  Yes, Serge?

Question:  Does the Secretary-General have any comment on the aborted mission of Mrs. Robinson?

Spokesman:  No, she was giving that announcement in Geneva almost at the same time that I was giving it here.  And, we got that news just minutes before the briefing.

Anything else?  Very good.  Could I ask the members to come forward?

* *** *