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

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Bertini

Catherine Bertini, the Secretary-General’s Personal Humanitarian Envoy arrived in Tel Aviv a short while ago.

As we speak, she is meeting with Israel’s Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres.

Later this evening she will meet with staff of the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Terje Roed Larsen.

As I mentioned last week at the time of her appointment, during this eight-day visit Ms. Bertini will assess the nature and the scale of the humanitarian crisis, and review humanitarian needs in the light of recent developments.

Ms. Bertini is expected to meet with other senior Israeli officials as well as with senior officials from the Palestinian Authority.

**Security Council

There are no scheduled meetings of the Security Council today.

Tomorrow, the Council members will hold a closed meeting to review progress to date in the UN Mission in East Timor.  The Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi will provide the briefing during that meeting.

Then in the afternoon, there will be another closed meeting of the Council with troop contributing countries to the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported today that UN military observers had discovered 15 more bodies at the residence of the Governor of Bunia, in the northeast of the country.

This brings the death toll to 90 people following last week’s fierce clashes between two factions of the rebel group known as Congolese Rally for Democracy–Kisangani/Liberation Movement or RCD-K/ML.

Bunia has on a number of occasions been the scene of intense fighting between armed groups from the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups.  During last week’s fighting, it appears that the RCD-K/ML split along ethnic lines between these two groups.

Over the weekend, the UN’s Deputy Force Commander in the DRC, General Roberto Martinelli visited the town and reported that Ugandan Army troops were now in control of Bunia and had expelled the militias in an effort to prevent further fighting.

Meanwhile in Uganda, the head of the UN mission, Amos Ngongi, has been meeting with senior officials.  He was to discuss with them the recent DRC peace accord signed in Pretoria at the end of July.  Ngongi is also expected to raise the situation in Bunia with the Ugandan authorities and remind them of their obligations to protect the civilian population in the town.

On a related note, on Friday night we sent out to the lid list a communiqué issued jointly by the United Nations and South Africa on the discussions taking place in New York on the practical modalities of the UN’s involvement in the Pretoria Peace Agreement.

And the text of that communiqué is available upstairs.

**Sudan

This afternoon in Machakos, Kenya, the second round of peace talks between the Sudanese Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement began, under the auspices of the Sudan Peace Committee of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, better known as IGAD.

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa, Mohamed Sahnoun, is in Kenya for the talks, where he is working in cooperation with the IGAD mediators and with the so-called troika of nations.  They are the US, the UK and Norway, who are involved in the peace process.

This round of talks is expected to last about five weeks, and to focus on a ceasefire and other outstanding questions, including the relations between the State and religion in Sudan.

Last month, you’ll recall, the Secretary-General expressed the hope that the parties to the peace talks will be able to build on their momentum so that they can reach a definitive peace agreement in the round that opened today, in order to put an end to the painful and debilitating conflict which has plagued the Sudan for nearly 50 years.

**Afghanistan

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that it is alarmed at the sudden increase in the number of refugee returns to Afghanistan from Iran.  UNHCR believes it is a result of “induced” pressure by the Iranian authorities. 

During the first week of August, UNHCR has seen nearly 10,000 refugees return, which was an increase from an average of 6,500 weekly returns in July.  Many families who returned from Iran last week told UNHCR staff that they decided to return because of pressure on them to leave.  Some say their children were rejected from registering for the new school year in Iran.

UNHCR warns that premature, forced or induced returns at this time will not be sustainable and may lead to a reversal of movement in the future.

The total number of assisted returns from Iran since April as of 10 August is 124,500.

**Somalia

Over the weekend, the Somalia staff member of the Food and Agriculture Organization who had been abducted in Mogadishu last Monday –- Abdulkadir Mohamed Abikar –- was released in Mogadishu without any preconditions.  He has since been medically examined and is reported to be in good health, and the UN Office in Nairobi issued a statement, which I have upstairs in my office, welcoming his release and repeating the UN’s strong condemnation of abductions.

Also on Somalia, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, today expressed his deep concern about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in many parts of that country –- particularly Baidoa, Puntland and Mogadishu -– because of violence and insecurity.  The fighting, he warned, disrupts the delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalis who are already facing acute poverty and malnutrition.

**Kosovo

On Sunday, the UN Mission in Kosovo announced that Rustem Mustafa, a Kosovo Albanian suspected of murder, torture and illegal detention, had been arrested by UN police and will face a judicial investigation concerning the torture and murder of at least five illegally detained persons.

The prosecutor in that case has requested that the suspect be detained pending the conclusion of the judicial investigation, which could last several months.  We have a press release with more details.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

The following statement is attributable to the Spokesman concerning Kashmir.  A recent article in the local press in Kashmir carried a number of groundless and potentially inflammatory accusations about the role of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan known as UNMOGIP.  In this context, it may be useful to briefly recall the functions of UNMOGIP, and the basis for its activities.

According to the Security Council mandate given in resolution 307 of 1971, UNMOGIP observes and reports on ceasefire violations along and across the Line of Control and the working boundary between Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, as well as reporting developments that could lead to ceasefire violations.  The observers report only to UNMOGIP Headquarters, which forwards reports to Headquarters here in New York.  They do not provide information to any third party.

The 45 military observers in UNMOGIP, drawn from nine countries, serve unarmed and the host authorities have full responsibility for ensuring their safety.  We trust that the authorities will ensure that the difficulty and risks faced by these dedicated officers are not exacerbated by such irresponsible and misinformed reports.

**International Youth Day

In his message today marking International Youth Day, the Secretary-General said that young people who have been active in the preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development must remain active during the follow-up.  He said young people must “keep making their voices heard as the main stakeholders of our planet’s future”.

“I call on all of us,” he said, “to make the best possible use of young people’s imagination, energy and indomitable spirit, in the cause of sustaining the future for succeeding generations.”

We have the full text upstairs.  We also have a text from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.

**UNEP Report

A new study by scientists working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says that a vast blanket of pollution in South Asia is causing serious environmental damage.

The cloud, known as the “Asian Brown Haze” has caused a minimum of hundreds of thousands of premature deaths annually across Asia.  The scientists even suggest that the death toll may even run into a million or two.  The cloud is also damaging agriculture and disrupting weather systems, including rainfall and wind patterns.

The findings indicate that the spectacular economic growth seen in this part of the world in the past decade may soon falter as a result of this Asia Brown Cloud.

UNEP says that the concern is that the regional and global impacts of the haze are set to intensify over the next 30 years as the population of the Asian region rises to an estimated 5 billion people.

We have more details on the UNEP report upstairs.

**Budget

Two more Member States have paid their 2002 regular budget contributions in full today.  Nepal with more than $44,000, Syria with almost $900,000.  There are now 93 countries paid in full for this year.

**Press Conference for Tomorrow

Press conference tomorrow:  11 a.m.  Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, will be here to brief you on a new report, “Global Challenge, Global Opportunity”.  The report assesses the living standards of the world’s growing population, and highlights the toll of global development on the earth’s natural resources and human health.

Immediately following that briefing, Sue Markham, the Spokeswoman for the Summit, will take questions on media logistics for the summit, which as you know will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August through

4 September.

That’s all I have.  Yes, welcome back, Bill.

Questions and Answers

Question:  Thank you, Fred.  Do you have any comment on the statement out of Iraq by Information Minister Mohammed Said El Sahaf that “inspections have finished in Iraq and that Iraq won’t allow United Nations weapons inspectors back into their country?”

Spokesman:  No.  The last thing we said to Iraq officially was in the Secretary-General’s letter to the Foreign Minister and we’re still awaiting an official reply to that letter.  Yes, Elizabeth.

Question:  Is there a deadline to that specific reply?

Spokesman:  Not that I am aware of.  It’s up to the Iraqis.  Robert, welcome back.

Question:  Does the United Nations have any position on the Iraqi suggestion of how their oil for food revenue should pay its arrears.  The UK and the United States object to this; as pointed out in the letter from the ambassador this morning.  Does the United Nations have a position on this?

Spokesman:  No.  That would be a matter for the Council, I would think, rather than for the Secretary-General.  Elizabeth.

Question:  Has the Secretary-General, you know, in his conversations with Secretary Powell, other Administration officials, gotten any indication of, a kind of informal deadline in Washington’s mind, by which they would want to see talks with weapons inspectors reach a conclusion or not reach a conclusion?

Spokesman:  If he has, he hasn’t shared them with me.

Question:  Because there is a report in some of the Arab paper out of London today that had quoted European sources quoting American sources saying that –- immediately it sounds like a long string of connection.

Spokesman:  Okay.

Question:  But I think they probably all are from the same scuttlebutt from various people that they’re saying that this has to come to a conclusion in a reasonable period of time.

Spokesman:  I can’t confirm that.  You might ask the Americans.  Yes?

Question:  About these unarmed observers of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).  Whilst they are unarmed and they don’t go beyond reporting the violations, in your assessment what has triggered all these accusations in some of the local daily of (inaudible) and Indian Kashmir?

Spokesman:  It’s a highly politicized environment and I can’t speculate about what might have led to this report.  All I am saying is that this report can threaten the security of the unarmed United Nations observers there.  And that’s why we issued this statement.  Yes?

Question:  Do you know if there’s been a change in the status of the Mexican national detained in Texas who is scheduled for execution on Wednesday?

Spokesman:  No.  We can check with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to see if they have any change since they issued a statement last week.  I guess it was the special rapporteur who issued a statement last week.  Yes?

[The Office of the Spokesman announced after the briefing that there had been no change in the status of the Mexican national on death row in Texas.]

Question:  According to the Iraqi question.  So, are you preparing for the war or you have a way for reconciliation?

Spokesman:  Well, we’re not preparing for war.  We don’t make war.  The Secretary-General is doing what he can as mediator between Iraq and the Security Council.

Question:  Thank you.

Spokesman:  Thank you very much.

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