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.

Good afternoon.

Guest at Noon Briefing

We’ve asked Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, to come here to brief you on the elections in Sierra Leone.  He’s also been called down to the Security Council.  So, we’re waiting to see if he’ll still be able to make it.

Secretary-General in Cyprus

This morning the Secretary-General met for an hour and a half with Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides at Mr. Clerides' office.  The meeting was two-on-two, with the Secretary-General accompanied by his Special Adviser, Alvaro de Soto.

And then at 3:30 this afternoon, local time, the Secretary-General went to the office of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for a meeting that lasted almost two hours.  Again, the formula was two-on-two.

This evening, the Secretary-General has invited the two leaders to a working dinner, which will be held at the residence of Zbigniew Wlosowicz, the Chief of the UN Mission in Cyprus.

Statement Attributable to Spokesman

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of Liberia:

“The Secretary-General is deeply disturbed by the human suffering caused by the precarious situation in Liberia.  He is also concerned about the implications that this might have for the Mano River Union subregion.  Recent fighting in Bong County and reports of rebel activity in the vicinity of the capital Monrovia have raised grave concerns about the well-being of a large number of civilians, many of whom are being forced to flee their homes.  The Secretary-General is also concerned for the safety of United Nations and non-governmental humanitarian workers, some of whom were forced to evacuate the town of Gbarnga and its environs on 9 May.

“The Secretary-General condemns all attempts by the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy and any other armed factions to take power by force.  He urges the Liberian parties concerned to resort to dialogue to address their grievances and in this regard, supports the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and others to make this dialogue possible.  The Secretary-General further reiterates his call on all States in the region not to allow their territories to be used to commit acts of aggression against neighbouring countries.

“The Secretary-General appeals to the international community to urgently provide adequate resources to relief agencies, to enable them to respond to vital needs of the rising number of internally displaced persons and other vulnerable Liberians.”

Statement Attributable to Spokesman

And this statement welcomes the elections in Sierra Leone: 

“The Secretary-General extends his congratulations to the people of Sierra Leone for voting in their numbers and in a spirit of mutual respect and reconciliation in yesterday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.  Their peaceful and enthusiastic participation in the elections is an eloquent testimony to Sierra Leoneans’ determination to turn a page on their tragic past.  It is also a major step on the road to lasting, sustainable peace.

“The Secretary-General appeals for continued calm and restraint as the election results are collated and announced.  He also urges political leaders and their followers to be magnanimous in both victory and defeat.

“The Secretary-General notes that the country’s pressing reconstruction and national reconciliation needs will be the next challenge for the Sierra Leonean people and the international community.  Extending State authority throughout the country, restoring Government control over natural resources, reintegrating ex-combatants and resettling returning populations, will require sustained determination, encouragement and support.”

Sierra Leone

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, said the organization of yesterday’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone was “extremely well done” throughout the country.

He praised Sierra Leoneans for their conduct during the elections.

He said “the comportment of the voters, of the people of Sierra Leone, has been exemplary, practically in every place we visited”.

He said the turnout among the 2.3 million eligible voters was “quite high.”  No official figures were expected to be released at least until Friday evening.

Commenting on the UN mission’s role in providing logistical support to the National Electoral Commission as mandated by the UN Security Council, he confirmed that “all the materials were in place by the time the people started voting”, adding that even in some inaccessible places, UN helicopters delivered materials well into the evening before the elections.

Adeniji expressed the hope that political parties would abide by the code of conduct they signed. “We are expecting that just as the election has been free of violence, so will the aftermath of the election when the results are announced”, he said.

We have press releases on the elections and a transcript of Adeniji’s press conference.

Security Council

The Security Council today is holding informal consultations.

Council members first heard a briefing on Liberia by Youssef Mahmoud, the Director of the Africa II Division of the Department of Political Affairs.

The Council President, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, is expected to read a press statement on Liberia after the consultations.  A press statement on the Sierra Leone elections is also expected.

The second and third items on the agenda are the Middle East and Afghanistan.  Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, is briefing on recent developments on both topics.

The last item is a briefing on the outcome of last weekend’s Security Council retreat by Council President Ambassador Mahbubani.

We have just been informed, as I mentioned to you, that Jean-Marie Guéhenno has been asked to brief on the latest developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  And we hope he will still find time to stop in here before he does that.

MONUC

The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reports that the situation in the centre of Kisangani appears to be calm, following yesterday’s mutiny attempt by former combatants from the Rally for Congolese Democracy -- known as RCD.  However the situation remains tense in certain areas around Kisangani, where a number of people were killed.

Yesterday afternoon, a plane-load of reinforcements of RCD troops arrived from Goma.

The UN Mission is currently trying to establish the facts surrounding yesterday’s events as well as identify the victims.  Preliminary reports indicate that five people lost their lives yesterday in Kisangani.

These incidents, the mission spokesman in Kinshasa said, underscore the urgency of the demilitarization of the town, as called for by the Security Council.

Larsen

Today in Oslo, Terje Roed Larsen, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process, delivered a lecture entitled “The Current Crisis in the Middle East: Causes and Solutions".

This was the annual Nobel lecture, hosted by the Nobel Institute.

Speaking in the city which gave its name to the Middle East peace process, Larsen said that after 10 years, the process has collapsed.

“The institutions it gave birth to are shattered and almost destroyed”, he said, “and the spirit that fueled it is being drowned out by violence, recriminations, and distrust”.

Nevertheless he told the audience that basic principles on which the Oslo Process was based remain valid.  Those were:  land for peace, based on Security Council resolutions 242 and 338; the end of occupation; total rejection of violence and terrorism; the need for security for both parties; and Israel's right to exist in security. 

However, given the erosion of trust and dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, it was now necessary to use the opposite tactics of Oslo to reach agreement and the end of conflict.  We must now start at the end, Larsen said.  “We have a consensus about where the conflict must end, and this must be agreed up front before anything else can be done.”

The principles for an end to the conflict must be introduced and guaranteed by the international community, he said.

And in conclusion, he said that those involved in the Middle East peace process are motivated by two fundamental principles and one unshakable idea.

The principles are the fundamentality of Israel’s right to exist and of the Palestinians’ right to independence and self-determination. 

The unshakable idea is that these two principles can be reconciled into one common vision and one common future.

We have the full text of that available upstairs.

Jean-Marie, I wonder if we should interrupt my briefing and go to you just in case you get a sudden call to go down to the Security Council.  The subject is Sierra Leone elections.  Jean-Marie Guéhenno.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

Thank you.

[The Spokesman suspended his briefing until after the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations had completed his.  The briefing notes for Under-Secretary-General Guéhenno are being issued separately.]

The Spokesman then continued:

I‘ll continue my briefing now, if that’s okay with you.  Thank you, Jean-Marie.

Palestinian Damage

An assessment, carried out by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Norway and released earlier today in Jerusalem, has determined the total cost of the damage in the West Bank and Gaza resulting from the recent Israeli incursions at more than $361 million.  The most heavily damaged areas were Nablus and Jenin; the total damage to Nablus cost some $114 million, while damage to Jenin was estimated at more than $82 million.

UNDP made a substantial contribution to the assessment by gathering and consolidating information and was responsible for the assessments of two of the seven areas in question, Nablus and Qalqilia.  UNDP will issues a press release on the assessment later today.

East Timor

The donors’ meeting in Dili, East Timor, ended today with pledges of more than $360 million to support East Timor over the next three years.  This will be added to the $81 million already available through the Trust Fund for East Timor and the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor, UNMISET, the successor to the current mission.

The two-day conference focused on poverty reduction and development in the social sector, with allocations of about 48 per cent of the core budget going to health and education.

Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri said the National Development Plan set out an ambitious path.  “Our challenge”, he said, “will be to ensure that we have the persistence to implement it and the flexibility to make changes and improvements as conditions allow”.

In other news from Dili, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, today swore in 29 Regional Commissioners for the Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation.  Under guidance from the Commission’s seven National Commissioners, the Regional Commissioners will conduct inquiries into human rights violations from 1974 to 1999.

ICTY

Earlier today, two Serbs who had been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia were transferred from Serbia to The Hague, where they have been put in the Tribunal’s detention unit.

Milan Martic, the former head of the Serb Krajina within Croatia, and Mile Mrksic, a Yugoslav Army general who was the former commander of the Serb Krajina’s army, have been charged with crimes allegedly committed in Croatia; the details of their indictments are included in a press release upstairs.

Rwanda Tribunal

Meanwhile, today in Brussels, Belgium, a former colonel in the Rwanda Armed Forces was arrested on charges of genocide and other crimes allegedly committed in 1994.  The suspect, Leonidas Rusatira, is accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda of leading an attack against thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus who had sought refuge in a technical college in Kigali, killing hundreds of them.  We have the details in a press release.

Drugs and Africa

I want to draw your attention to a press release issued by the UN International Drug Control Programme, which helped organize a recent meeting of ministers from more than 40 African countries and delegates from several regional African communities, international organizations and NGOs.

UNDCP says a five-year plan of action against drug abuse has been adopted at the first-ever Organization of African Unity (OAU) Ministerial Meeting on Drug Control in Africa.  That was held in Côte d’Ivoire.

Until recently, drug control in Africa has received little attention and the full dimensions of drug trafficking, abuse and related problems still need to be assessed, according to UNDCP. 

SG Message/Global Compact

Today in Toronto, the Global Mining Initiative Conference, which seeks to foster responsible mining worldwide, is holding its closing session, and the Secretary-General has issued a message emphasizing the importance of the initiative.

In his message -- to be delivered by Georg Kell, executive head of the Global Compact -- the Secretary-General points out, “The mining and minerals industry is one in which there are real discrepancies between wealth creation for the few, and environmental and social costs for the many”.  It is imperative, he said, that more is done to mitigate the fallout from mining and ensure that local communities share in the benefits.

We have copies of the message in my office.

International Day of Families

Today is International Day of Families -- bet you missed that one.  And in his message to mark the occasion, the Secretary-General draws attention to this year’s theme of family and ageing, and says that, between now and 2050, the number of older persons will rise from about 600 million to 2 billion.

Meanwhile, he notes, traditional family and social networks for support, as well as the concept of the social safety net, are shrinking.  Given these challenges, he says, “we must redouble our resolve to build a society for all ages –- and we must build on families as the basis for achieving it”.

Press Releases

Press releases, we have two from UNEP.  I’m not going to mention them.  You can pick them up from my office.

Budget

Budget news:  Mozambique today became the seventy-fourth Member State to pay its regular budget dues for this year, and that with a payment of just over $11,000. 

Noon Guest for Tomorrow

And our guest at tomorrow’s noon briefing will be Ishmail Razali, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar.  Any questions?  Bill.

Questions and Answers

Question:   Fred, I’m sorry.  The study on the cost of the Israeli incursion on the West Bank and Gaza was the World Bank, UNDP and what was the third one?

Spokesman:  I’ll tell you in just a minute.  The Government of Norway.  And I understand that eight donor governments contributed to the assessment exercise, including the United States.

Question:   A question about Afghanistan.  Is the United Nations doing anything to mitigate the housing problem of local Afghans who are being forced out

of their homes because of the high prices that the United Nations and other agencies and embassies are willing to pay?

Spokesman:  The market forces are ruthlessly at work in Kabul, judging from a New York Times article yesterday, was it?  Let me get more specific guidance on that, I don’t know what we can do.  We’re all also wrestling with the problem of pay scales for Afghans working for us in the midst of an economic environment that’s changing rapidly, again as I said, responding to market forces.  I’ll try and get a more detailed response for you this afternoon.  We’ll try to get to Kabul right away.

Question:   On that same subject.  Is the United Nations going to have to, I mean, if the World Food Programme (WFP) pays $10,000 a month, then doesn’t the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have to take care of the homeless that result from that?  I mean, is the UN finding that it’s got more homeless to deal with -- the UN agencies?  

Spokesman:  I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Manoel what he can give us in the way of hard facts.  The press report indicated that the people at the bottom of the chain were being forced out of their homes by these rising prices.  So, I'll try to get from Manoel a sense of how widespread that is and what we, the United Nations mission there, can do about it.

Question:   The other day there was this pledging conference for Srebrenica.  Was there ever an announcement of how much that raised?

Spokesman:  No.  I’ll try and find out.  I know that on the day that you were briefed here they indicated that they did not expect to get a significant amount of money that day because they sensed that donors were kind of looking at each other to see who would go first.  But what they hoped for was to get the ball rolling.  So, I’m sure we can get the hard numbers of what was pledged.   We’ll give it to you right after the briefing.  [He later said that about $9 million in cash and kind had been pledged against a $12.5 million target, but he could confirm later.]

Question:   On the West Bank and Gaza study again.  In addition to the figures you cited for Jenin and Nablus, can you provide any further details for the bulk of the $361 million?

Spokesman:  UNDP did say that they would be putting out a press release later this afternoon with more details, I assume, on their part of the study.  If you check with my office right after the briefing, I’ll see if we have any more than what was given.  This piece of paper was handed to me in the middle of the briefing, so I really don’t have any more background on it.  Okay, thanks very much.

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