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.  As we squawked earlier this morning, the Secretary-General will come down here at 12:30 p.m. to introduce his new High Commissioner for Human Rights-designate, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

**Afghanistan

Following the 1 July bombing incident in Uruzgan in Afghanistan, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan dispatched a fact-finding team from Kandahar to assess humanitarian needs.  That team also included local Afghan authorities.  Following the visit, a quick preliminary report was put together concerning both the situation on the ground and an estimate of the requirements for humanitarian assistance to the affected villages.

The short preliminary report contained some figures regarding the level of casualties that were not fully documented and judgements that were not sufficiently substantiated.  A comprehensive report is being finalized that will provide a more detailed and accurate picture of the circumstances and consequences of the bombing.

The Mission today issued a statement, a copy of which is available upstairs in my Office, emphasizing that everything should be done to see that innocent civilians are protected and such incidents not recur.

Once this final report is ready, we will issue a full statement.

**Afghanistan -- Mines

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, warmly welcomed today’s decision by the Afghan Transitional Authority to accede to the Mine Ban Convention.  This announcement illustrates the determination of President Hamid Karzai, his Government and the people of Afghanistan to turn away from decades of conflict and to embrace a peaceful future.

Afghanistan is the world’s most severely mine-affected country.  With this decision, the work of the clearing of mines and unexploded ordnance, and destroying mine stockpiles, assumes renewed significance.  The United Nations is committed to supporting President Karzai and his Government in their efforts to rid the country of the menace of mines and counts on the international community to provide continued financial support for this vital work.

**Security Council

The Security Council this morning held a closed meeting on Georgia during which Georgian Minister for Special Affairs Malkhaz Kakabadze made a statement.

Council members then walked across the hall to the consultation room to discuss the Middle East.  As you’ll recall, the Council had met in consultations Friday afternoon when Syria introduced a draft resolution and members agreed to resume discussions on the draft this morning.  They are expected to return to the matter tomorrow afternoon.

Then, Joachim Hutter, Director of the Europe and Latin America Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, briefed on developments since the issuance of the most recent report of the Secretary-General concerning the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia.  The mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia is expiring the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Kosovo, Michael Steiner, is scheduled to brief the Security Council on recent developments in an open meeting on Kosovo.  Once that meeting ends, he will come to the Security Council stakeout to take questions from reporters.

**Democratic Republic of Congo

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations Mission in that country reports that it began training 54 civilian police instructors in Kisangani today.

This is the first of two five-week courses. A second batch of 54 instructors will go through the training in early September.

All these future police instructors were selected by United Nations staff from a list provided by the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma (CRD-Goma), the de facto authority in Kisangani.

The Mission’s Civilian Police Commissioner General, Gerardo Chaumont, as well as CRD-Goma officials, attended the opening ceremony.

**Middle East

Late on Friday, this Office issued a statement on the Middle East attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General.  Today, we have this statement:

“The Secretary-General remains gravely concerned at the continued violence in the Middle East, including most recently yesterday the shooting of a Palestinian woman in Hebron by Israeli settlers and Friday's attack near the town of Hebron in the West Bank in which four Israelis were killed   He reiterates his condemnation of all attacks against civilians.  The Secretary-General urges all concerned to end the cycle of violence and retaliation and calls on the parties to return to the path of negotiations for a permanent settlement.”

**Aid to Chechnya Suspended

The Office of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Moscow announced today that humanitarian activities in Chechnya have been suspended indefinitely following the kidnapping of a senior Russian aid worker. 

Humanitarian activities in Ingushetia have been suspended for two days, starting today.  The suspension covers all humanitarian activities carried out by the United Nations and its non-governmental organization partners.  The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Russian Federation, Rosemary McCreery, is expected to arrive in Grozny tomorrow to hold talks with Chechen officials.

**International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia

In a press release out today, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia noted the withdrawal last Friday of the indictment against Milan Zec, a former Yugoslav Army commander charged with war crimes committed in Dubrovnik in 1991.

The Tribunal decided that the evidence at this stage was insufficient to maintain the charges against Zec, but this does not exclude the possibility that further prosecution may be brought against him based on additional evidence that may be obtained.

**Press Releases

Two other press releases of note today -- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) -- said in a new joint report that despite improved harvests, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea urgently needs new pledges of external assistance.  The aid will help to fill the food gap threatening millions of people in the most vulnerable groups.  The FAO and WFP are forecasting a deficit of 382,000 metric tons for the July to October period.

The second press release is from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  The secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora -- better known as CITES -- has completed its preliminary assessment of proposals from 54 States parties for amendments to the Convention’s lists of plants and animals subject to trade controls.  All

158 parties now have until their next meeting in Santiago, Chile, next November, to provide comments on the lists.  Among the controversial issues will be Japan’s proposal to reopen trade in two whale species and issues related to trade in African elephant ivory.

**Press Conferences

Press conference tomorrow morning at 9:15 -- for any of you that might be awake at that hour -- the United States Mission is sponsoring a press conference in this room on the United States-hosted International Conference on Illicit Trade and Tobacco, which is taking place tomorrow in Conference Room 4.

And then the guest at the noon briefing tomorrow will be Dr. Derek Yach, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Cluster on Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health.  He'll be talking about the effects of illicit trade in tobacco products.

That's all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Can you give us any more details on the Afghan fact-finding mission?  Are they going to put out a preliminary report?  Is there anything that we can get our hands on at this stage?

Spokesman:  What happened, and the reason I mentioned it this morning, is that the initial report by the fact-finding team leaked to the press.  And the unfortunate thing about that was when Mr. Brahimi saw this first report he found that there were facts in it that were not, to his satisfaction, adequately substantiated.  So he asked them to produce a more detailed report, which they have done and the mission is now in the process of finalizing.  So I think we may hear from the mission tomorrow concerning this revised report.

Question:  Can we get the leaked document? 

Spokesman:  I'm sorry.  The whole point was to make this a more responsible document than the one that initially returned from this fact-finding team.

Question:  The most explosive part was that the Americans mopped up to cover up their deed on the ground.  Was that in fact part of the unsubstantiated one?

Spokesman:  I prefer not to comment on that until Mr. Brahimi releases the final report. 

Question:  Was the preliminary report based on one visit to this site or a number of visits?

Spokesman:  I'm not quite sure.  My understanding is this team from Kandahar visited the four villages that were affected by the United States attacks, gathered information at each of the four villages and then filed a report with Kabul.  That's my understanding.  But we're a long way from Kabul and sometimes we don't always get all these details right at Headquarters, but that's my understanding of how it happened. 

Question:  Can you explain when you say that Mr. Brahimi saw facts in it that were not to his satisfaction?

Spokesman:  That probably wasn't the best way to put it.  There were things presented as facts that were not, to his satisfaction, adequately documented.  So he said, look, if you're going to say this, then please back it up with more detail.  Give me more substantiation of your observations and conclusions.

Question:  If the report had said the United States moved evidence as part of some cover-up, would Mr. Brahimi leave that in, or would he be the type of diplomat, considering what's at stake here, to say that's not to my satisfaction?

Spokesman:  I don't think he wants to change the objective facts; he just wants to substantiate them.  And I hope we'll be hearing from him tomorrow.

Questions:  Last week, the United States Congress passed the American Service Persons Protection Act, which the non-governmental organization coalition described as having aggressive anti-ICC (International Criminal Court) provisions.  Does the Secretary-General have a statement on the passage of this Act?

Spokesman:  No, and I don't think he would.  But I'm not even sure that we have seen reports of that.  I have to check on the cable traffic from our office in Washington.  So I have no comment at this time.  I was not even aware of it.

Question:  Can I ask a follow-up -- had that report been reviewed at all in New York?

Spokesman:  Just by, I assume, by Mr. Brahimi or his senior staff.

Question:  It says in the press release that this was a fact-finding mission, not an investigation.  Can you characterize to me the extent of the United Nations involvement in this?  Is there going to be a full investigation or is it just this particular fact-finding mission?

Spokesman:  I don't know what the intention of the mission is.  Their intention initially was just to find out how many people were hurt and what the extent of humanitarian assistance that might be needed was.  In the course of gathering that information, the team also reported on the facts as best they could establish them.  What happened, how many people were affected and so on.  So that's where we are.  I don't know that there's any intention to carry out an investigation.  I don't know that it's the mission's mandate to do such investigations.  Clearly the interim Government could.

Question:  How many people were in this team?  Could you describe the composition -- who and what days they went?  Do you know?

Spokesman:  I don't have that information with me.  I would have to see whether we have it here or whether we'd have to ask Kabul.

Question:  Has there been any communication with the Pentagon regarding this or between the United Nations and the United States regarding what this team found, because there's obviously been some comment separately from the Pentagon.

Spokesman:  I believe that in Kabul there may have been some information communicated from the Mission to the United States authorities in Kabul. 

Question:  How concerned are we about the suspension of humanitarian aid to Chechnya?

Spokesman:  I'm sure that we're hoping that the suspension is not going to last any longer than it has to.  But, of course, the kidnapping of this official was alarming enough for our people that we felt we had to halt our operations there.  And as I said, a United Nations official will be going to Chechnya, to Grozny, to talk with the officials there.

Question:  Sorry to harp on this, but can we expect tomorrow the final report?

Spokesman:  I'm not in a position to say that.  We spoke to Kabul this morning and Mr. Brahimi will be discussing this matter with his senior staff tomorrow morning and they did tell us they expect to issue a statement.  What beyond a statement they would be prepared to issue tomorrow, I don't know.

Question:  Is the United Nations now disavowing this fact-finding team?  You don't even know what their mandate was.  What's the view from New York about this?

Spokesman:  Well, I did say that in terms of this fact-finding team they were sent to assess the humanitarian situation.  And Mr. Brahimi is not disavowing what they initially reported.  He just asked them, are you sure of your facts, give me more substantiating detail.  The final result you will have to see perhaps tomorrow, when Mr. Brahimi comments on the second report that this team sent to him.

Question:  Is it your understanding that the issue of the blood being cleaned up -- the Americans cleaning after the raid -- was that based on direct observation of this team or the interviewing of eyewitnesses?

Spokesman:  I don't want to comment on any of the details that have been leaked based on the preliminary report.  If you don't mind, I'll hold off on that until we get whatever Mr. Brahimi wants to say tomorrow about the second and final report.

OK.  So seven minutes or so, the Secretary-General will be here with

Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello.  Thank you very much.

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